midnight
The Syren in this famous voyage was commanded by a Captain Coffin , a Nantucketer . All honor to the Enderbies , therefore , whose house , I think , exists to the present day ; though doubtless the original Samuel must long ago have slipped his cable for the great South Sea of the other world . The ship named after him was worthy of the honor , being a very fast sailer and a noble craft every way . I boarded her once at midnight somewhere off the Patagonian coast , and drank good flip down in the forecastle . It was a fine gam we had , and they were all trumps -- every soul on board . A short life to them , and a jolly death . And that fine gam I had -- long , very long after old Ahab touched her planks with his ivory heel -- it minds me of the noble , solid , Saxon hospitality of that ship ; and may my parson forget me , and the devil remember me , if I ever lose sight of it .