ten at night
`` Do so , sir ; do so ! '' replied the lieutenant obligingly . The captain of the Susquehanna , as brave a man as need be , and the humble servant of his officers , returned to his cabin , took a brandy-grog , which earned for the steward no end of praise , and turned in , not without having complimented his servant upon his making beds , and slept a peaceful sleep . It was then ten at night . The eleventh day of the month of December was drawing to a close in a magnificent night . The Susquehanna , a corvette of 500 horse-power , of the United States navy , was occupied in taking soundings in the Pacific Ocean about 200 miles off the American coast , following that long peninsula which stretches down the coast of Mexico . The wind had dropped by degrees .