noon
Five of the ships were also fitted with searchlights , so that we might not again have to contend with the difficulty of finding the harbour entrance . `` Commander Hayashi , whom I believe you know , was appointed to command the expedition ; and volunteers were called for in the usual way . Of course I offered myself ; and Togo was good enough to appoint me to the _ Totomi Maru _ , a small craft of some nineteen hundred tons , under a splendid fellow named Honda . `` We left here at noon of the 2nd , escorted by the gunboats _ Akagi _ and _ Chokai _ , the second , third , fourth , and fifth destroyer divisions , and the ninth , tenth , and fourteenth torpedo-boat flotillas . `` When we started , the weather was everything that could be desired ; there was no wind , and the water was like glass , while , for a wonder , the air was crystal clear ; also there would be a good slice of moon to light us on our way after sunset . But the weather was too fine to last ; you know how it is in these seas , my dear chap . Toward sunset the barometer began to fall very rapidly , and about eight o'clock a fresh south-easterly breeze sprang up quite suddenly ; it became hazy , the sea got up rapidly , and by six bells in the first watch it was blowing hard , and the weather became so thick that we lost sight of each other .