five
o'clock
Enough : the three ships enter the Firth , boldly and freely , as if carrying Quakers to a Peace-Congress . Along both startled shores the panic of their approach spread like the cholera . The three suspicious crafts had so long lain off and on , that none doubted they were led by the audacious viking , Paul Jones . At five o'clock , on the following morning , they were distinctly seen from the capital of Scotland , quietly sailing up the bay . Batteries were hastily thrown up at Leith , arms were obtained from the castle at Edinburgh , alarm fires were kindled in all directions . Yet with such tranquillity of effrontery did Paul conduct his ships , concealing as much as possible their warlike character , that more than once his vessels were mistaken for merchantmen , and hailed by passing ships as such . In the afternoon , Israel , at his station on the tower of Pisa , reported a boat with five men coming off to the Richard from the coast of Fife .