midnight
Still she stood up bravely to her canvas , closely hugging the wind . Had a rope been rotten , had a spar given way , our fate might have been sealed . In one instant after striking , the ship and everything in her might have been dashed to atoms . The man with firmest nerves among all our crew watched that lofty berg , as we rushed by it in our midnight course , with feelings of awe and anxiety , if not of alarm , and drew a breath more freely when he looked over the quarter and saw the danger past . It was not the only one we encountered that night . Sail had been shortened ; but it was evidently necessary , after the warning we had received , to keep the ship as much as possible under command . On , on we flew through the murky night , the gale every moment increasing in force , and the sea rising and breaking in unexpected directions .