eleven o'clock in the morning
***** It was the 3rd of September . If nothing occurred to delay us , our schooner would be in sight of port in three days . The chief island of the group is visible on clear days at a great distance . That day , between ten and eleven o'clock in the morning , I was walking backwards and forwards on the deck , on the windward side . We were sliding smoothly over the surface of an undulating sea . The _ Halbrane _ resembled an enormous bird , one of the gigantic albatross kind described by Arthur Pym -- which had spread its sail-like wings , and was carrying a whole ship 's crew towards space . James West was looking out through his glasses to starboard at an object floating two or three miles away , and several sailors , hanging over the side , were also curiously observing it .