three in the afternoon
In vain Mahoney strove to get the men to take turns in watching aloft from the mizzenmast for any chance vessel . The icy gale was too much for them , and they preferred the shelter of the cabin . O'Brien , the boy , who was only fifteen , took turns with Mahoney on the freezing perch . It was the boy , at three in the afternoon , who called down that he had sighted a sail . This did bring them from the cabin , and they crowded the poop rail and weather mizzen shrouds as they watched the strange ship . But its course did not lie near , and when it disappeared below the skyline , they returned shivering to the cabin , not one offering to relieve the watch at the mast head . By the end of the second day , Mahoney and O'Brien gave up their attempt , and thereafter the vessel drifted in the gale uncared for and without a lookout .