eleven o'clock
`` This is a rough beginning , '' Nigel said to his nephew . `` We bargained to run the risk of being killed by the Germans , but we did not expect to run the hazard of being drowned . I doubt if the vessel can live till morning . It is only eleven o'clock yet , and in spite of the pumps she is getting lower and lower in the water . '' Before Malcolm had time to answer him there was a tremendous crash which threw them off their feet . All below struggled on deck , but nothing could be seen in the darkness save masses of foam as the waves broke on the rock on which they had struck . There were two more crashes , and then another , even louder and more terrible , and the vessel broke in two parts .