eight o'clock
But I can not pay these young men the compliment to introduce them one by one , as I did the gun-room officers . It would be an anomaly unheard of . I shall , therefore , with every respect for them , describe them just as I want them . It was one bell after eight o'clock -- a bottle of ship 's rum , a black jack of putrid water , and a tin bread-basket , are on the table , which is lighted with a tallow candle of about thirteen to the pound . `` I say , Mr Jerry Sneak , what are you after there -- what are you foraging for in that locker ? '' said one of the oldsters of the berth to a half-starved , weak-looking object of a youngster , whose friends had sent him to sea with the hopes of improving his stamina . `` What for ?