midnight
The high wind blew from the north-west for twenty-four hours , when it fell calm , and in the night sprang up from the south-west . This was dead in our teeth , but I took in the sea-anchor and set sail , hauling a course on the wind which took us in a south-south-easterly direction . It was an even choice between this and the west-north-westerly course which the wind permitted ; but the warm airs of the south fanned my desire for a warmer sea and swayed my decision . In three hours -- it was midnight , I well remember , and as dark as I had ever seen it on the sea -- the wind , still blowing out of the south-west , rose furiously , and once again I was compelled to set the sea-anchor . Day broke and found me wan-eyed and the ocean lashed white , the boat pitching , almost on end , to its drag . We were in imminent danger of being swamped by the whitecaps . As it was , spray and spume came aboard in such quantities that I bailed without cessation .