two o'clock
If they could get drunk with two masts , how much more could they do so with one , when they had only half as much sail to look after ? With such a rule of three , there was no reasoning ; and they got drunk , and continued drunk during the whole passage . Good luck often attends us when we do n't deserve it : `` The sweet little cherub that sits up aloft , '' as Dibdin says , had an eye upon us . I knew we could not easily get out of the Gut of Gibraltar without knowing it ; and accordingly , on the third day after leaving the frigate , we made the rock early in the morning , and , by two o'clock , rounded Europa Point . I had ordered the men to bend the cable , and , like many other young officers , fancied it was done because they said it was , and because I had ordered it . It never once occurred to me to go and see if my orders had been executed ; indeed , to say the truth , I had quite as much as I could turn my hand to : I was at the helm from twelve o'clock at night till six in the morning , looking out for the land ; and when I ordered one of the men to relieve me , I directed him how to steer , and fell into a profound sleep , which lasted till ten o'clock ; after which I was forced to exert the whole of my ingenuity in order to fetch into the Bay , and prevent being blown through the Gut ; so that the bending of the cable escaped my memory until the moment I required the use of the anchor . As I passed under the stern of one of the ships of war in the Bay , with my prize colours flying , the officer on deck hailed me , and said I `` had better shorten sail . ''