about ten o'clock in the evening
About a fortnight after their departure , they had the misfortune to lose the Captain 's son , a little boy about eight or nine years of age , who fell from the ship 's side , when she was under full sail , and was drowned . This melancholy accident is another striking instance of the unhappy consequences of children 's disobedience to their parents . The little boy , here alluded to , used frequently to get on the outside of the ship , and let himself down by a rope to paddle in the sea ; he had been several times detected by his papa , in playing those frolics ; and as often reproved for it , and warned of the danger , but to little purpose ; for he was one of those headstrong undutiful children -LRB- of whom I fear there are too many -RRB- who , as soon as they are out of their parents ' sight , forget the good advices and prudent cautions which have been given them , and pursue each idle fancy that enters their heads , without once considering either the folly or danger of it , till they are convinced , by fatal experience , that their parents are much more capable of judging what is proper for them than they are for themselves . -LSB- Illustration -RSB- After this accident , they proceeded on their voyage for several weeks , with very favourable weather , and had got so near their destined harbour , that they expected to have made it the next day , but in this they were unhappily disappointed ; for about ten o'clock in the evening they were overtaken by the most violent storm that the oldest sailor on board had ever remembered . The waves , which broke mountains high over the ship , washed several of the sailors overboard , and the rest were so dispirited and fatigued , that they were obliged to let the ship drive at the mercy of the wind and waves . The next morning , as soon as it was light , they perceived that the ship was carried towards the land with the greatest rapidity ; and , as they every moment expected , about nine o'clock she struck upon a rock ; the boat was immediately hoisted out , and every one on board crowded into her , except King Pippin , who imagining , that being overloaded , she could not possibly reach the shore , preferred remaining on the wreck . A very short time convinced him , that his suspicion was too well grounded ; for before the boat was out of sight , she overset , and every one on board perished .