twelve o'clock
I started with horror at the dangers I had escaped , and looked forward with gloomy apprehension at those that still awaited me . I sought in vain , among all my actions since I left my mother 's care , one single deed of virtue -- one that sprang from a good motive . There was , it is true , an outward gloss and polish for the world to look at ; but all was dark within : and I felt that a keener eye than that of mortality was searching my soul , where deception was worse than useless . At twelve o'clock , before I had once closed my eyes , I was called to relieve the deck , having what is called the middle watch , i.e. from midnight till four in the morning . We had , the day before , buried a quarter-master , nick-named Quid , an old seaman who had destroyed himself by drinking -- no very uncommon case in His Majesty 's service . The corpse of a man who has destroyed his inside by intemperance is generally in a state of putridity immediately after death ; and the decay , particularly in warm climates , is very rapid . A few hours after Quid 's death , the body emitted certain effluvia denoting the necessity of immediate interment .