three o'clock in the morning
This was no sooner hinted , than they granted his request ; and I was fain to eat in a solitary manner by myself during the rest of the passage , which , however , soon drew to a period . We had been seven weeks at sea , when the gunner told the captain that , by his reckoning , we must be in soundings , and desired he would order the lead to be heaved . Crampley swore he did not know how to keep the ship 's way , for we were not within a hundred leagues of soundings , and therefore he would not give himself the trouble to cast the lead . Accordingly we continued our course all that afternoon and night , without shortening sail , although the gunner pretended to discover Scilly light ; and next morning protested in form against the captain 's conduct , for which he was put in confinement , We discovered no land all that day , and Crampley was still so infatuated as to neglect sounding ; but at three o'clock in the morning the ship struck , and remained fast on a sand-bank . This accident alarmed the whole crew ; the boat was immediately hoisted out , but as we could not discern which way the shore lay , we were obliged to wait for daylight . In the meantime , the wind increased , and the waves beat against the sloop with such violence , that we expected she would have gone to pieces . The gunner was released and consulted : he advised the captain to cut away the mast , in order to lighten her ; this expedient was performed without success : the sailors , seeing things in a desperate situation , according to custom , broke up the chests belonging to the officers , dressed themselves in their clothes , drank their liquors without ceremony , and drunkenness , tumult , and confusion ensued .