four o'clock
I do not know , I shall never know ; for it is a matter no one of us dreams of hinting at , much less discussing . I shall begin at the beginning -- yesterday afternoon . For it was yesterday afternoon , five weeks to a day since we emerged from the Straits of Le Maire into this gray storm-ocean , that once again we found ourselves hove to directly off the Horn . At the changing of the watches at four o'clock , Captain West gave the command to Mr. Pike to wear ship . We were on the starboard tack at the time , making leeway off shore . This manoeuvre placed us on the port tack , and the consequent leeway , to me , seemed on shore , though at an acute angle , to be sure . In the chart-room , glancing curiously at the chart , I measured the distance with my eye and decided that we were in the neighbourhood of fifteen miles off Cape Horn .