midnight
After that , there was nothing to be done , but to wait for the chance of the wind dropping at sunset , and the sea going down afterwards , so as to enable our weak crews to lay the two boats alongside of each other , without undue risk -- or , to put it plainer , without saddling ourselves with the necessity for any extraordinary exertion of strength or skill . Both the one and the other had now been starved out of us for days and days together . At sunset the wind suddenly dropped , but the sea , which had been running high for so long a time past , took hours after that before it showed any signs of getting to rest . The moon was shining , the sky was wonderfully clear , and it could not have been , according to my calculations , far off midnight , when the long , slow , regular swell of the calming ocean fairly set in , and I took the responsibility of lessening the distance between the Long-boat and ourselves . It was , I dare say , a delusion of mine ; but I thought I had never seen the moon shine so white and ghastly anywhere , either on sea or on land , as she shone that night while we were approaching our companions in misery . When there was not much more than a boat 's length between us , and the white light streamed cold and clear over all our faces , both crews rested on their oars with one great shudder , and stared over the gunwale of either boat , panic-stricken at the first sight of each other . `` Any lives lost among you ? ''