midnight
When the hands were at their stations on the yard , the first lieutenant ordered the quartermaster to `` luff up ; '' that is , to put the helm down so as to throw the ship up into the wind and spill the sail , or get the wind out of it , that the young tars might handle it with the more ease . The boys had been frequently trained in the manoeuvre which they were now executing under trying circumstances , and all of them knew their duty . If any one trembled as the mast swayed over when the ship rolled , he was afraid to mention the fact , or to exhibit any signs of alarm . Perhaps most of them would have been willing to acknowledge that it was rather `` ticklish '' business to lay out on a topsail yard at midnight in a gale of wind ; and if their anxious mothers could have seen the boys at that moment , some of them might have fainted , and all wished them in a safer place . The boom tricing-lines were manned again , and the studding-sail booms restored to their places . `` Lay down from aloft ! '' shouted Haven , when the midshipman in charge aloft had reported the work done ; and he was obliged to roar at the top of his lungs through the speaking trumpet , in order to be heard above the piping of the gale and the dashing of the sea .