nine o'clock
in the morning
This navigation amidst floating icebergs was the most perilous which the `` Alaska '' had as yet attempted ; but thanks to the excellent training to which the young captain had accustomed his crew , and to the experience which they had acquired in maneuvering the vessel , they passed safely among these moving masses of ice without being crushed by them . The `` Alaska '' had had the advantage of being able to travel more swiftly than the icebergs , and she had been able to benefit by this circumstance . Kind Providence had willed that her search should not prove fruitless . At nine o'clock in the morning the island had been sighted . They recognized it by its shape , and then the two shots from the guns made them hopeful of finding their two shipwrecked friends . All their other troubles now appeared to them as insignificant . They had a long and dangerous voyage before them , which they must accomplish under sail , for their coal was exhausted .