midnight
So I relieved Buckwheat from deck duty , placed him on watch over the cabin floor , to be relieved by the steward in Margaret 's watches . In the late afternoon , after prodigious hammerings and clangings in a score of places , all noises ceased . Neither in the first and second dog - watches , nor in the first watch of the night , were the noises resumed . When I took charge of the poop at midnight Buckwheat relieved the steward in the vigil over the cabin floor ; and as I leaned on the rail at the break of the poop , while my four hours dragged slowly by , least of all did I apprehend danger from the cabin -- especially when I considered the two-gallon pail of raw sulphuric acid ready to hand for the first head that might arise through an opening in the floor not yet made . Our rascals for ` ard might scale the poop ; or cross aloft from mizzenmast to jigger and descend upon our heads ; but how they could invade us through the floor was beyond me . But they did invade . A modern ship is a complex affair .