About three o'clock in the morning
The sea rose rapidly ; topsail after topsail was furled ; and by dusk the _ Pacific _ was flying through the water with the wind on her quarter , under reefed foresail and storm staysail . It was with difficulty that three men at the wheel could keep the helm , such were the blows which the vessel received from the heavy seas on the quarter . Not one seaman in the ship took advantage of his watch below to go to sleep that night , careless as they generally are ; the storm was too dreadful . About three o'clock in the morning the wind suddenly subsided ; it was but for a minute or two , and then it again burst on the vessel from another quarter of the compass , as Ready had foretold , splitting the foresail into fragments , which lashed and flogged the wind till they were torn away by it , and carried far to leeward . The heavens above were of a pitchy darkness , and the only light was from the creaming foam of the sea on every side . The shift of wind , which had been to the west-north-west , compelled them to alter the course of the vessel , for they had no chance but to scud , as they now did , under bare poles ; but in consequence of the sea having taken its run from the former wind , which had been north-east , it was , as sailors call it , cross , and every minute the waves poured over the ship , sweeping all before their weight of waters . One poor man was washed overboard , and any attempt made to save him would have been unavailing .