nine o'clock
Even while ascertaining the amount of the damage , he could not help observing a fishing-boat audaciously making its way round the Crocq Point at that hour of night . On the morrow of a tempest , when there is always some agitation upon the sea , that route was extremely unsafe . It was rash to choose it , at least , unless the steersman knew all the channels by heart . At half-past nine o'clock , at L'Equerrier , a trawler carrying home his net stopped for a time to observe between Colombelle and the Soufleresse something which looked like a boat . The boat was in a dangerous position . Sudden gusts of wind of a very dangerous kind are very common in that spot . The _ Soufleresse _ , or Blower , derives its name from the sudden gusts of wind which it seems to direct upon the vessels , which by rare chance find their way thither .