midnight
At all events , I 'll _ undertake _ to _ silence _ the battery ; and if care and patience will enable me to do so without alarming the frigate , it shall be done . '' `` Very well , then , '' said the skipper ; `` you shall conduct the enterprise ; and remember that a surprise is eminently desirable , but that the spiking of the guns is _ an imperative necessity _ . '' We sat a little while longer , and then , rising and making our bows , retired in a body . We stood on until within an hour and a half of midnight , when we wore ship and began to retrace our steps . By three o'clock next morning we were off the spot which Captain Annesley had selected for the landing -LRB- a small strip of sandy beach , distant about a mile to the southward of the southernmost end of North - East Bay -RRB- ; and the frigate was once more hove-to . The first cutter , which was the boat selected for the service , was lowered , and at four a.m. left the ship , having on board twenty picked men , in addition to the coxswain and myself , all fully armed . On approaching the shore , we found ourselves to all appearance with a rock-bound coast under our lee , upon which the sea was breaking with considerable violence .