about one o'clock in the morning
The wind lulled again in the evening and continued moderate till the 19th , when it breezed up once more for the fourth time , and by the 21st we were in the centre of a perfect hurricane . Still nothing would induce our captain to run back or to endeavour to make his way across the Atlantic in a more southerly latitude . He had made up his mind that this northerly route was the right one to take , and he was not a man to be diverted from his purpose . The gale had been blowing for some hours , when at about one o'clock in the morning watch , the night being dark as Erebus , the ship pitching heavily into the seas and straining terrifically , Delisle and I were on deck together , endeavouring to pierce with our eyes the thick obscurity into which we were driving . It was much of a time for moralising , considering the showers of snow which ever and anon beat into our faces , the sheets of spray which came aboard and froze as it fell over us , and the biting wind which blew down our throats . `` No unapt picture this , of the life of many of us , Hurry , '' said my companion . `` Here have we been knocking about for some weeks very much the worse for wear -- no nearer our voyage 's end , and utterly unable to say whither we are driving .