about one o'clock
For the next four hours all was busy turmoil . Passengers were arriving with their luggage marked `` For use in cabin , '' last packages of cargo were being received , a couple of van-loads of fresh vegetables were shot down upon the deck as if some one was about to start a green-grocer 's shop on the other side of the world , and the state of confusion increased to such a degree that it seemed to Mark that order could never by any possibility reign again . Wheels squeaked as ropes ran through tackle , iron chains clanged ; there was a continuous roaring of orders , here , there , and everywhere ; and at last , when the time for going out of dock arrived , the deck was piled up in all directions with cargo and luggage , and every vacant place was occupied by passengers , their friends , dock people , and crew . It seemed impossible for the tall three-masted ship to get out of that dock through the narrow gates ahead and into the crowded river ; but , just about one o'clock , a man in blue came on board and took charge , began shouting orders to men on the quay , ropes were made fast here and there and hauled upon , and the great ship was in motion . Before many minutes had elapsed she had glided majestically into a narrow canal with stone walls , and from the high stern deck Mark saw that a pair of great gates were closed behind them , as if the ship had been taken in a trap . But no sooner was this achieved than another pair of gates was opened before her bows , and the slow gliding motion was continued till , almost before he knew it , the _ Black Petrel _ East Indiaman , Captain Strong , outward-bound for Colombo , Singapore , and Hong-Kong , was out in the river without having crushed any other craft . As she swung out there in the tide , a large unwieldy object which threatened to come in contact with one or other of the many ships and long black screws lying in the river , all of a sudden a little , panting , puffing steamer came alongside and , amidst more shouting , ropes were thrown and she was made fast , while another appeared off the _ Black Petrel 's _ bows , where the same throwing of ropes took place , but this time for a stout hawser to be fastened to the rope which had come through the air in rings .