midnight
The first boat to make her appearance was the service gig in charge of Mr Flowers , the third lieutenant ; she ranged up alongside and hove-to about two hours after sunset , soon afterwards following our example by throwing out a sea anchor . Then came the first and second cutters , in command of the first and second lieutenants ; the first cutter arriving about an hour after Mr Flowers , while the second cutter appeared about a quarter of an hour later . The launch followed about half an hour astern of the second cutter ; but this was not to be wondered at , the former being rather deep , owing to the very generous supply of water that the doctor had insisted on carrying for the comfort of the wounded . Then , some three-quarters of an hour later , came the jolly-boat in charge of the boatswain ; and finally the dinghy , carrying four hands and in charge of my friend and fellow-mid , Jack Keene , turned up close upon midnight . Long ere this , however , we had each in succession spoken the launch , reporting the distance that we had traversed up to sunset . And , with the data thus supplied , the master had gone to work upon a calculation which formed the basis of a sort of table showing the ratio of the speeds of the several boats , with the aid of which the officer in charge of each boat could estimate with a moderate degree of accuracy the position of each of the other boats at any given moment -- so long , that is to say , as the wind held fair enough to allow the boats to steer a given course . A copy of this table was then furnished to the officer in command of each boat , after which the captain ordered Mr Flowers to make the best of his way to Barbadoes , with instructions to report the loss of the frigate immediately upon his arrival , with a request to the senior naval officer that a craft of some sort might be forthwith despatched in search of the other boats .