twenty minutes to nine
Then he laid his two hands on the engine-room telegraph and reduced the pace to half-speed . There were a hundred people on board who would take note of it with a throb of uneasiness at their hearts , but that could not be helped . The second officer stepped sideways into the chart-room , reluctant to turn his eyes elsewhere than dead ahead into the wind and mist , to make a note in two books that lay open on the table under the shaded electric lamp . It was twenty minutes to nine . The Grandhaven was a quick ship , but she was also a safe one . The captain had laid a course close under the Lizard lights . He intended to alter it , but not yet .