five o'clock
`` I saw him , I tell you , Master Charles , as plain as I see you now ; and as true as I am standing by your side the sarpint jumped right over the _ Amphitrite _ when Gil Saul and I was a-looking up , and carried away our maintopmast and everything belonging to it ! '' `` Well , it must have been wonderful , Jim , '' said I. `` Ay , ay , sir , '' said he , `` but you 'd ha ' thought it a precious sight more wonderful if you had chanced to see it , like me ! '' I may add , that , shortly afterwards , I really took the trouble to overhaul a pile of the local papers to see whether Jim 's account of the report made by the captain of the _ Daedalus _ to the Lords of the Admiralty was substantially true ; and , strange to say , I discovered amongst the numbers of the _ Hampshire Telegraph _ for the year 1848 , the following copy of a letter forwarded by Captain McQubae to the admiral in command at Devonport dockyard at the date mentioned : -- `` Her Majesty 's Ship _ Daedalus _ `` Hamoaze , October 11th , 1848 . `` Sir , -- In reply to your letter of this day 's date , requiring information as to the truth of a statement published in the _ Globe _ newspaper , of a sea serpent of extraordinary dimensions having been seen from her Majesty 's ship _ Daedalus _ , under my command , on her passage from the East Indies , I have the honour to acquaint you , for the information of my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty , that at five o'clock , PM , on the 6th of August last , in latitude 24 degrees 44 minutes south , and longitude 9 degrees 22 minutes east , the weather dark and cloudy , wind fresh from the North West , with a long ocean swell from the South West , the ship on the port tack heading North East by North , something very unusual was seen by Mr Sartons , midshipman , rapidly approaching the ship from before the beam . The circumstance was immediately reported by him to the officer of the watch , Lieutenant Edgar Drummond , with whom and Mr William Barrett , the master , I was at the time walking the quarter-deck . The ship 's company were at supper . `` On our attention being called to the object it was discovered to be an enormous serpent , with head and shoulders kept about four feet constantly above the surface of the sea , and as nearly as we could approximate , by comparing it with the length of what our main-topsail - yard would show in the water , there was at the very least sixty feet of the animal _ a fleur d'eau _ , no portion of which was , to our perception , used in propelling it through the water , either by vertical or horizontal undulation .