four o’clock in the afternoon
The captain , however , after a consultation , preferred to tow the ship over the ridge , as he considered it was scarcely safe to allow a vessel of doubtful stability at full sail to charge an obstacle that would probably bring her to a dead lock . Before the operation was commenced , Curtis took the precaution of having an anchor ready in the stern , for , in the event of the attempt being unsuccessful , it would be necessary to bring the ship back to her present moorings . Two more anchors were next carried outside the passage , which was not more than two hundred feet in length . The chains were attached to the windlass , the sailors worked away at the handspikes , and at four o'clock in the afternoon the `` Chancellor '' was in motion . High tide would be at twenty minutes past four , and at ten minutes before that time the ship had been hauled as far as her sea-range would allow ; her keel grazed the ridge , and her progress was arrested . When the lowest part of her stern , however , just cleared the obstruction , Curtis deemed that there was no longer any reason why the mechanical action of the wind should not be brought to bear and contribute its assistance . Without delay , all sails were unfurled and trimmed to the wind .