forty-two minutes past five
` Oh , the ship it is ready and the wind is fair to plow the raging main ! ' said the captain . Of course my grandfather at once paid his fare without asking credit , and the amount was three hundred and twenty-seven dollars thirty-nine cents . `` Well , they set sail , and after going ever so many thousand miles , or hundred -- I forget which , but it do n't matter -- a great storm arose , a typhoon or simoon , perhaps both ; and after slowly gathering up its energies for the space of twenty-nine days , seven hours , and twenty-three minutes , without counting the seconds , it burst upon them at exactly forty-two minutes past five , on the sixth day of the week . Need I say that day was Friday ? Now my grandfather saw all the time how it was going to end ; and while the rest were praying and shrieking he had cut the lashings of the ship 's long-boat and stayed there all the time , having put on board the nautical instruments , two or three fish-hooks , a gross of lucifer matches , and a sauce-pan . At last the storm struck the ship , as I have stated , and at the first crack away went the vessel to the bottom , leaving my grandfather floating alone on the surface of the ocean .