ten o'clock
I had seen already in my trips in the _ Martin _ up and down Channel what I fancied at the time to be rough weather ; but , never in my life previously had I ever seen such a scene of grandeur as the ocean presented that stormy afternoon ! Far and wide , it seethed and boiled like a huge cauldron , its surface covered with foam as white as snow , which the dark setting of inky clouds along the horizon brought out in whiter relief . Above , masses of ragged wrack scudded aimlessly across the sky , whose leaden hue was cheerless and grim , save where , in the west , the sun went down suddenly in a wrath of crimson majesty , the darkness of night descending on the scene as if a curtain of _ crepe _ , had been let down the moment after he vanished beneath the waste of angry waters , unlightened by a single ray of his customary after-glow . Apparently the tempest-loving demons of the deep were only waiting for the shades of night in order to carry on their revels with the greater ` go ' at our expense ; for no sooner had the evening closed in than the gale increased in force , and the sea waxed even angrier , so that by Four Bells in the first watch , that is at ten o'clock , in landsman 's parlance , the ship had to lie-to under storm staysails -- pitching and plunging bows under , and taking in some of the huge rollers occasionally over her forecastle , that swept down into the waist to such an extent that it was as much as the scuppers could do to get rid of the water as she rolled . Fortunately , we did not get any of this below , the hatches having been battened down early in the afternoon , subsequently to our mishap with the ` gashing-tub ' ; but , although this saved us some wet , it was far from pleasant on our mess-deck , the steam from the wet clothes of the fellows belonging to the watch just relieved , and the smell of the bilge from the place being shut up , making it resemble towards morning something like what I have read of an African slaver 's hold being in the middle latitudes . When day broke , I found , on turning out of my hammock , our ship riding a little easier , the rolling having abated considerably ; and , on going on deck shortly afterwards , though there was no order as usual to ` lash up and stow , ' the weather being too rough for that , the reason for this change for the better , so far as the uneasy motion was concerned , became apparent enough . The commodore had ordered a storm jib to be set , as well as the after - trysail , which was about the size of a good old-fashioned pocket - handkerchief ; and , instead of laying-to as we had been when I turned in close on midnight , the ship was now running before the south-easter and making good progress , too , out of the neighbourhood of the treacherous Bay .