noon
It was a true taste of a seaman 's life to those who were on deck . At daybreak all hands were called again , to put the third reef in the topsails . At eight bells the courses were furled . The gale continued to increase in power during the forenoon , and by noon a tremendous sea had been stirred up . The ship rolled almost down to her beam ends , and the crests of the waves seemed to be above the level of the main yard . In the popular exaggerated language , `` the waves ran mountain high , '' which means from twenty to forty feet ; perhaps , on this occasion , twenty-five feet from the trough of the sea to the crest of the billow . Even this is a great height to be tossed up and down on the water ; and to the boys of the Young America the effect was grand , if not terrific .