four o'clock in the afternoon
On the following morning the reef at low tide presented an extraordinary spectacle . Every woman , boy and girl from Guasap and the adjacent villages were searching for the coins , and their clamour was terrific . Whilst all this was going on , White , and the mate , and crew were receiving the oil from the shore , putting it into our casks , driving the hoops , and stowing them in the hold , working in such a state of suppressed excitement that we were unable to exchange a word with each other , for as each cask was filled I , on the after-deck , paid for it , shunted off the seller , and took another one in hand . At four o'clock in the afternoon we ceased work on board and went on shore to `` buy money '' . The village square was crowded with women and children , every one of whom had money -- mostly in English five-shilling pieces . Some of these coins were bent and twisted into the most curious shape , some were imbedded in lumps of coral , and nearly all gave evidence of the terrific fury of the seas which had cast them up upon the reef from a depth of seven fathoms of water . Many were merely round lumps , having been rolled over and over among the sand and coral .