midnight
`` O'er the glad waters of the dark blue sea , Our thoughts as boundless , and our souls as free , Far as the breeze can bear , the billows foam , Survey our empire , and behold our home . '' Byron . As Columbus sought his apartment , soon after he reached the deck of the Holy Maria , Luis had no farther opportunity to converse with him that night . He occupied a part of the same room , it is true , under the assumed appellation of the admiral 's secretary ; but the great navigator was so much engaged with duties necessary to be discharged previously to sailing , that he could not be interrupted , and the young man paced the narrow limits of the deck until near midnight , thinking , as usual , of Mercedes , and of his return , when , seeking his mattress , he found Columbus already buried in a deep sleep . The following day was Friday ; and it is worthy of remark , that the greatest and most successful voyage that has ever occurred on this globe , was commenced on a day of the week that seamen have long deemed to be so inauspicious to nautical enterprises , that they have often deferred sailing , in order to avoid the unknown , but dreaded consequences . Luis was among the first who appeared again on deck , and casting his eyes upward , he perceived that the admiral was already afoot , and in possession of the summit of the high poop , or castle , whose narrow limits , indeed , were deemed sacred to the uses of the privileged , answering , in this particular , to the more extended promenade of the modern quarter-deck . Here it was that he who directed the movements of a squadron , overlooked its evolutions , threw out his signals , made his astronomical observations , and sought his recreation in the open air .