three o'clock in the afternoon
This they did without demur , realizing that at a time of such peculiar danger , when no one knew what had happened , what was happening , or where the next outbreak might come , it was necessary for everybody to be on the alert . Through the afternoon the darkness increased into a horrid gloom far worse than the darkest night . Men collided with each other working about the decks , for the feeble glow of electric lights and lanterns was deadened by the yellowish compost so that they could not be seen five feet away . When nightfall came , no one knew , it had been scarcely less dark at three o'clock in the afternoon than at midnight . All night long men worked steadily in shifts , clearing away the ash . Ashore the conditions were equally terrifying and all night long the bell of the Russian Church boomed out in the blackness . There were few of its followers who did not grope their way to the building at some time during that awful night .