midnight
`` We 'll pick her up in the morning , surely , '' said Forsythe . `` This ca n't last for ever . '' Nor did it last long . An hour before midnight a pounding shower fell , lashing the sea into phosphorescent whiteness . It ceased , and with the growl of a leaping animal a squall furiously beset the ship . Soon the great steel body was plunging and heaving in the billows . It was a gloomy company about the wardroom table .