midnight
`` It 's only six miles to the southward . We ought to get a good set there . '' Steadily they plowed on . It was Percy 's first experience in a small boat on the midnight ocean , and he felt something akin to awe as they breasted the long swells , heaving in slowly and gently , yet resistlessly . Down to the horizon all around arched the deep blue firmament , spangled with stars . Matinicus Rock glittered in the west , while just beyond the shoulder of Brimstone Point , Saddleback Light , almost level with the sea , kept vanishing and reappearing . As the _ Barracouta _ forged forward her prow started two diverging lines of phosphorescent bubbles and her wake resembled a trail of boiling flame .