ten o'clock in the morning
When , in obedience to his mother 's command , I took him below to his cabin before the fight began , I not only found the open port of his cabin uncovered , but all three of the electric-lights ablaze , so that the port must have shown up in the dark like a lighthouse . The young gentleman explained to me that he could n't sleep because of the heat , and had therefore been reading in bed ! '' The untimely death of poor Kennedy resulted in my being promoted to the position of first mate of the _ Stella Maris _ , young as I was ; while the boatswain , who knew nothing of navigation , but was an excellent seaman , was temporarily given the post of second mate , until someone more suited to the position could be found . At ten o'clock in the morning following our brush with the Malays the hands were mustered for church parade , as on Sundays , and Kennedy 's body was committed to the deep with all solemnity . Monroe read the burial service so impressively that even the lad Julius was visibly affected , while Mrs Vansittart and her daughter -- both of them attired in black for the occasion -- wept freely . Three days later we arrived in Singapore , and on the following day the yacht was docked for examination and the fitting of the spare propeller . Upon examination the hull was found to be quite undamaged , yet we must have hit the wreckage , or whatever it was that we ran foul of , a pretty severe blow , for not only was the weed completely scoured off the ship 's bottom where contact had occurred , but the anti-fouling composition had also been removed as effectually as though a scraper had been employed .