five o’clock in the afternoon
Not finding Ham among the people whom this memorable wind -- for it is still remembered down there , as the greatest ever known to blow upon that coast -- had brought together , I made my way to his house . It was shut ; and as no one answered to my knocking , I went , by back ways and by-lanes , to the yard where he worked . I learned , there , that he had gone to Lowestoft , to meet some sudden exigency of ship-repairing in which his skill was required ; but that he would be back tomorrow morning , in good time . I went back to the inn ; and when I had washed and dressed , and tried to sleep , but in vain , it was five o'clock in the afternoon . I had not sat five minutes by the coffee-room fire , when the waiter , coming to stir it , as an excuse for talking , told me that two colliers had gone down , with all hands , a few miles away ; and that some other ships had been seen labouring hard in the Roads , and trying , in great distress , to keep off shore . Mercy on them , and on all poor sailors , said he , if we had another night like the last ! I was very much depressed in spirits ; very solitary ; and felt an uneasiness in Ham 's not being there , disproportionate to the occasion .