about seven o'clock in the evening
For the fun of `` boiling t ' kettle yourself , '' and an appetite bred of a day on the water , made the art of French cooks and the stimulus of patent relishes pale into insignificance . During the afternoon they `` had a spurt singing , '' and as the words of hymns were the only ones they knew , the old favourites were sung and resung . The little lads especially led the programme ; and the others remembered Willie singing for them , as a solo , a childish favourite called `` Bring Them In . '' It was just about seven o'clock in the evening . The boat was well out in the bay , between three and four miles from land , when John noticed a fresh `` cat 's - paw '' of wind , just touching the water here and there . There was scarcely a cloud in the sky , and nothing whatever to suggest a squall . But as he looked again , a suspicious wisp of white water lifted suddenly from the surface a few yards to windward .