midnight
So to prevent further disaster we put out the fires , and then started , all hands , to bale out with buckets . It was a sight to see every man-jack at work on that job -LRB- scientific staff included -RRB- , and you would not have thought our spirits were much damped , whatever our bodies may have been , if you had been there when I cried , `` Are we downhearted , shipmates ? '' and heard the shout that came up from fifty men -LRB- some of them waist deep in the water -RRB- : `` No ! '' We had a stiff tussle until after midnight , but we stuck hard , and before we turned into our bunks , we had fought the sea and beaten it . Next morning broke fine and clear , with that fresh crisp air of the Antarctic which is the same to the explorer as the sniff of battle to the warhorse , and no sign of the storm except the sight of some lead-white icebergs which had been torn from the islands south-west of us . Everybody was in high spirits at breakfast , and when one of the company started `` Sweethearts and Wives '' all hands joined in the chorus , and -LRB- voice or no voice -RRB- I had a bit of a go at it myself . It is not the most solemn music ever slung together , but perhaps no anthem sung in a cathedral has ascended to heaven with a heartier spirit of thanksgiving .