about nine o'clock
Some time in the afternoon I heard talk that our skipper -- well , I wo n't mention names -- and , as it turned out in the end , everyone was implicated . Anyhow , at six o'clock or thereabouts the gig was ordered out , and every blessed officer on board went ashore in her ; which was clean contrary to regulations , of course , but there happened to be a cinematograph show they all wanted to see at the big music-hall -- some prize-fight or other . I do n't set much store by prize-fights for my part , and living pictures give me the headache : so , to salve everybody 's conscience , I was left in sole charge of the ship . `` Everything went smooth as a buttered cake until about nine o'clock , when the wind , that had been dying down all the time , suddenly flew west and began to gather strength hand over fist ... . I never , not being a seaman , could have believed -- till I saw and felt it -- the change that came over Plymouth Sound in the space of one half-hour . The gig had been ordered again for nine-thirty , to pull to the Barbican Steps and be ready at ten to bring the officers on board . But before nine-thirty I began to have my serious doubts about sending her .