about midday
In the early morning ; it was quite calm , but gray , and we witnessed a kind of Fata Morgana . A ship , which had not yet risen above the horizon , showed itself in the distance , but the rigging was turned upside down ; the masts were below , the hull above . This is called the ship of death , and when it is seen people are sure of bad weather and shipwreck . Later , about midday , it began to blow , and in an hour 's time we had a regular tempest . The sea growled quite charmingly ; we travelled on between sand-hills -- they resemble hills and dales in winter time , but here it is not snow which melts away ; here never grows a single green blade ; a black stake stands up here and there , and these are rudders from wrecks , the histories of which are unknown . In the afternoon arose a storm such as I had experienced when riding with the man between the sand-hills . We could not proceed farther , and were obliged on this account to seek shelter in one of the huts which the fishermen hail erected among the white sand-hills .