three o'clock
This reply was telegraphed to New York , and Mr. Pierrepont Edwards , Her Britannic Majesty 's Consul-General , was one of the first to receive it . He acted with the usual force and promptness with which British interests and the lives of British subjects are protected by British officials abroad . That is to say , he first telegraphed to the British Minister at Washington , Mr. West , requesting , that the three great ironclads , `` Devastation , '' `` Orion '' and `` Agamemnon , '' all of which were then in Hampton Roads , be at once sent to New York . Then he prepared a formal protest against the proposed action of the Spanish Admiral , which all the other foreign consuls at once signed , and which was delivered aboard the Spanish flag-ship by a boat bearing the British flag before three o'clock that afternoon . The Spanish admiral took the protest into consideration to the extent of granting forty-eight hours ' time . The consuls protested again at this as not being sufficient , and demanded five clear days . The admiral refused to grant more than three ; but when , before the three days had expired , the trio of English war-ships made their appearance , and calmly moved between his fleet and the shore , he changed his mind and granted the desired time -- which was wise , seeing that the English vessels could blow his squadron out of water with little trouble and not much injury to themselves .