about eleven p.m.
The third mate being ill , I had been invested with the questionable honour of standing his watch , on account of my sea experience and growing favour with the chief . Very bitterly did I resent the privilege at the time , I remember , being so tired and sleepy that I knew not how to keep awake . I did not imagine that anything would happen to make me prize that night 's experience for the rest of my life , or I should have taken matters with a far better grace . At about eleven p.m. I was leaning over the lee rail , grazing steadily at the bright surface of the sea , where the intense radiance of the tropical moon made a broad path like a pavement of burnished silver . Eyes that saw not , mind only confusedly conscious of my surroundings , were mine ; but suddenly I started to my feet with an exclamation , and stared with all my might at the strangest sight I ever saw . There was a violent commotion in the sea right where the moon 's rays were concentrated , so great that , remembering our position , I was at first inclined to alarm all hands ; for I had often heard of volcanic islands suddenly lifting their heads from the depths below , or disappearing in a moment , and , with Sumatra 's chain of active volcanoes so near , I felt doubtful indeed of what was now happening . Getting the night-glasses out of the cabin scuttle , where they were always hung in readiness , I focussed them on the troubled spot , perfectly satisfied by a short examination that neither volcano nor earthquake had anything to do with what was going on ; yet so vast were the forces engaged that I might well have been excused for my first supposition .