About midnight
I have no idea he thought of himself , apart from his wife : for a finer , more manly resolute fellow , never existed , as he subsequently proved , to the fullest extent . It seemed to me that the two Cape May men had a sort of desperate reluctance to give up the hope of reaching the land . We were a strong boat 's crew , and we had a capital , though a light boat ; yet all would not do . About midnight , after pulling desperately for three hours , my strength was quite gone , and I had to give up the oar . Captain Robbins confessed himself in a very little better state , and , it being impossible for the boatmen to do more than keep the boat stationary , and that only for a little time longer , there remained no expedient but to keep off before the wind , in the hope of still falling in with the ship . We knew that the Tigris was on the starboard tack when we left her , and , as she would certainly endeavour to keep as close in with the land as possible , there was a remaining chance that she had wore ship to keep off Henlopen , and might be heading up about north-north-east , and laying athwart the mouth of the bay . This left us just a chance -- a ray of hope ; and it had now become absolutely necessary to endeavour to profit by it .