noon
A roar like a thousand thunders , a stunning blow impossible to imagine , and then -- a broad , wreck-strewn expanse , amid which those few poor atoms of humanity showed but as black dots for a moment , soon to be sucked beneath the seething waves . By dawn of the next day the storm was over , for that gray-back had been one of those climaxes in which nature seems to delight ; and , having done its worst , the winds hushed their fury , and wailed away into a chill , sullen , but clearing morning . The remainder of the fleet , scattered in every direction by the storm , did not discover the absence of the Nautilus till mid-forenoon , when bits of wreckage , into which they sailed , soon told the pitiful story . Towards noon two bodies were found , that of the captain and steersman , afloat in the pilot-house , but no more ; the fate of Reuben , the boy , and the three other hands could only be conjectured . The next day the drowned men were given honorable burial ; and many of the remaining vessels , having been almost disabled by the fury of the elements , had to make for the nearest port for repairs . Then came a fair and `` lucky '' run , in which not a hand could be spared to carry the news home , for these fishermen learn to look almost with contempt upon death and disaster . Many a poor fellow with a broken limb must go days , even weeks , before he can reach a physician ; and the friends on shore are left as long in ignorance of their fate .