Apart from the beacon on Tuskar Rock, the only lights off Rosslare as teatime approached were the small, flashing ones marking out the shipping channel. Green for starboard, red for port, they reminded seafarers.
But Siptu members in Rosslare had developed temporary colour blindness. "We've turned all the lights red tonight," joked one.
Then, around 5pm, the MV Normandy and confrontation both suddenly loomed. The ferry passed behind the lighthouse, making slowly for the mouth of the channel. Union spokesmen reiterated what they had said all day: that the ship would not be allowed to dock, and that Irish Ferries had known this before leaving Cherbourg.
Local Labour TD Brendan Howlin, among the small crowd gathered in the port terminal, accused the company of "reckless" disregard for the passengers on board.
On the hill overlooking the harbour, photographers trained zoom lenses out to sea.
A handful of Sinn Féin protesters with pro-worker placards drew occasional beeps from passing motorists.
But the shortage of people heading for the port, either to meet incoming passengers or to catch the return sailing that had been scheduled for 4pm told its own story.
It was now clear that the ferry had passed the entry to the channel and was heading north. The Rosslare lifeboat, which had been on standby since earlier in the day, when the ship reported that an injured crew member needed treatment, was stood down after another call from the Normandy. The union had been sceptical about the reported injury. But at 5pm, the lifeboat was informed that a doctor on board had been able to treat it.
An Irish Ferries spokesman could not be contacted to confirm the general assumption - that the ferry was heading for Dublin. There was speculation that the captain might be experienced enough to have an exemption that would allow him dock there without the help of harbour pilots. Either way, the Rosslare protest was folding camp and so was the media.
The trip up the east coast would add another four hours to an already long sea journey, and it wasn't just the passengers who had reason to feel queasy about the prospect. SIPTU conceded that, even if the situation had been forced upon it, it wasn't in the union's interest to have stranded passengers "ringing Joe Duffy".
Provided the company gave certain assurances, the passengers would have to be allowed off as soon as possible.
But the Normandy's failure to land in Rosslare was a victory for the workers, even so.
"The point has been made here," said Tony Ayton, an inspector with the International Transport Workers Federation, to which SIPTU is affiliated.