About a quarter to nine
Thenceforth , all through that day and night , the deafened survivors must continue to endure their martyrdom and one officer died , it was supposed from agony of mind , in his inverted cabin . Three ships still hung on the next margin of destruction , steaming desperately to their moorings , dashed helplessly together . The _ Calliope _ was the nearest in ; she had the _ Vandalia _ close on her port side and a little ahead , the _ Olga _ close a-starboard , the reef under her heel ; and steaming and veering on her cables , the unhappy ship fenced with her three dangers . About a quarter to nine she carried away the _ Vandalia 's _ quarter gallery with her jib-boom ; a moment later , the _ Olga _ had near rammed her from the other side . By nine the _ Vandalia _ dropped down on her too fast to be avoided , and clapped her stern under the bowsprit of the English ship , the fastenings of which were burst asunder as she rose . To avoid cutting her down , it was necessary for the _ Calliope _ to stop and even to reverse her engines ; and her rudder was at the moment -- or it seemed so to the eyes of those on board -- within ten feet of the reef . `` Between the _ Vandalia _ and the reef '' -LRB- writes Kane , in his excellent report -RRB- `` it was destruction . ''