two o'clock
Every eye was fixed in eager anxiety on the cables , which every now and then were buried in the sea , and then , as the ship rose to the swell , were seen far ahead of her , high above the surface of the water , stiff and rigid as bars of iron . `` I know not how it happened , but , amid all the uproar around me , surrounded by faces which spoke but too plainly fears for the result , and conscious that our danger was imminent , I felt a kind of unnatural buoyancy of spirits , a secret conviction that , whatever might happen , I should escape unhurt . Telford stared at me , and muttered , ` The lad 's fey , as they used to say in the North . ' At two o'clock , the best bower cable parted , and the spare anchor was let go , but the cable went almost immediately . Our danger was now most imminent ; our sole dependence was on our sheet cable ; and it was evident to all on board that _ that _ could not long resist the heavy strain . Our ensign was now hoisted , union downward , that well-known signal of extreme distress ; and the mournful booming of our guns seemed to our excited imaginations to be the knell of our passing minutes . At seven o'clock , a cry was heard , which , like an electric shock , was passed from one end of the ship to the other in a moment , stunning the most daring spirits with its dreaded import .