midnight
The merchant sailor will drawl the blackguard `` I 'll go no more a-roving '' to an air like a prolonged wail ; the fisherman sings `` Home , beautiful home '' as a lovely waltz . Blair always encouraged the men to sing a great deal , and therein he showed the same discretion as good merchant mates . I can not describe Freeman 's ecstasies , and I wish I could only give an idea of the helmsman 's musical method . This latter worthy had easy steering to do , so he joined in ; he was fond of variety , and he sang some lines in a high falsetto which sounded like the whistling of the gaff -LRB- with perhaps a touch of razor-grinding added -RRB- ; then just when you expected him to soar off at a tangent to Patti 's topmost A , he let his voice fall to his boots , and emitted a most bloodcurdling bass growl , which carried horrid suggestions of midnight fiends and ghouls and the silent tomb . Still , his mates thought he was a musical prodigy ; he was entranced with the sweetness and power of his own performance , and the passengers were more than amused , so every one was satisfied . The gentlemen who vary my slumbers by howling `` The Rollicking Rams '' in eight different keys at four in the morning would call the ship 's company of that schooner soft . There are opinions and opinions .