The captain's wife,
frozen on the deck, had a moment in which hope and fear collided and her overtaxed
brain,
solving at last the mystery of the rhythmical droning, tossed out the useless information that the oncoming vessel was a ship - rigged steamer.
The amygdala is the most primitive part of our
brains and, when under stress, activates the «fight, flight or
freeze» response (helpful when facing a sabre tooth tiger but it shuts down our ability to problem -
solve).