an hour after
midnight
A little after sundown it began to breeze up , and by four bells of the first watch , there was a stiffish wind , which at midnight began to climb into half a gale . `` Then the sea began to rise . It only takes a capful of wind to make things nasty on the bay , and that iron cylinder began to toss like a cork . We 'd left four men aboard the cylinder and by half an hour after midnight they were pumping for their lives . There was a big searchlight on the tug and Father came tumbling up from below and ordered the searchlight turned on to the cylinder . `` I tell you , that was a sight . There was nothing to be seen in the smother but the great black iron rim rolling savagely , the white water spouting about it , and , as it heaved above the waves , the searchlight showed its black sides with the water streaming down .