midnight
`` God save them that 's at sea this night . '' `` Amen ! '' said Mrs Adams . By midnight the typhoon had reached its height . The timbers of the houses appeared to groan under the strain to which they were subjected . The whole heavens seemed in a continual blaze , and the thunder came , not in bursts , but in one incessant roar , with intermittent cracks now and then . Occasionally there were louder crashes than usual , which were supposed to be only more violent thunder , but they were afterwards found to be the results of very different causes .