morning about four
o'clock
When the whale had been taken aboard , the ship , under her new commander , Mr. Higgins , stood away into the North Pacific , where she cruised along the land , in the direction of Behring 's Straits , for several weeks . The prospect not seeming to brighten much , Mr. Higgins thought he would try an experiment in what he called `` high latitudes , '' and to that end headed the ship for the Auckland Islands . Now the crew had but little respect for their new commander , and no confidence whatever in his skill as a navigator . After proceeding in this direction for ten days , one morning about four o'clock the lookout called the attention of the officer of the watch to strange sounds heard close ahead . It resembled the dull , sluggish sound of breakers on shore during a calm . The sounds became louder and seemed to be approaching the ship , but as her reckoning gave no land anywhere near , the cause of the sounds began to excite great alarm . The captain was called and the crew turned out , and an effort made to put the ship on the other tack , but it was of no avail .