About eight o'clock
All these people seemed to Simon unusually excited and strange in their behaviour . He soon learnt that the earthquake had devastated the English coast . Hastings , having been , like Dieppe , a centre of seismic shocks , was partly destroyed . About eight o'clock they came to the edge of a deep depression quite two-thirds of a mile in width . Filled with water until the middle of the afternoon , this depression , by a stroke of luck for Simon , had delayed the progress of those who were flying from Hastings and who had ventured upon the new land . A few minutes later , the fog being now less dense , Simon was able to distinguish the endless row of houses and hotels which lines the sea-fronts of Hastings and St. Leonards . By this time , his escort consisted of three or four hundred people ; and many others , doubtless driven from their houses , were wandering in all directions with dazed expressions on their faces .