94 COOK IN THE ANTARCTIC AND IN ALASKA 



hoped that the experience gained by him in the art of resisting the 

 extremities of Arctic temperature and in the use of sledges and 

 Eskimo dogs, might enable him to reach a high southern latitude. 

 Peary gave the highest testimonials to Cook's hardihood, boldness 

 and trustworthiness in his report of the expedition of 1891-92, and 

 the young aspirant for polar honors came into the field with an 

 excellent record. 



It may be said here that Dr. Cook had caught the Arctic fever 

 strongly, and manifested the infection in various ways. Instead of 

 settling down to the practice of his profession he lost no time in 

 making his way to Greenland again, first going on a cruise north- 

 ward in 1893, as commander of the yacht "Leta," and then, in 1894, 

 organizing a voyage north in a small steamer named the "Miranda/' 

 This was intended simply as a summer trip, but the "Miranda" had 

 a serious time in the realm of ice, her career ending by a journey to 

 the bottom of the sea, to which watery goal the adventurers escaped 

 accompanying her. 



Leaving New York on July 7, 1894, with a party of enthusiastic 

 young men, the first trouble of the party came shortly after leaving 

 the harbor of St. John's, Newfoundland. They were but a day out 

 when they found themselves in the midst of a long procession of 

 icebergs, of all shapes and sizes. Beautiful, many of them, one 

 large mass looked like a vast cathedral in ruins, with a stately, 

 glittering tower rising above its huge bulk. Beautiful but perilous ; 

 dangers in dozens lay hidden in those gleaming ice wonders. 



Fog fell the next day, thick and dense, and then the peril devel- 

 oped. Without warning a great white mass loomed out of the fog 

 before them, and before the engines could be reversed the ship 

 struck it full and square. The iron prow buried itself fully seven 

 feet in the face of the berg, the shock bringing a heap of crumbling 

 fragments down upon the forward deck. Was the "Miranda" 

 wounded unto death? This could not be told until the reversed 

 engines drew her from the ice. Fortunately, she had struck a 



