THE WHITE WORLD 



sion. This was the signal that she was in distress. The 

 Miranda slackened her speed, and as the two vessels drew 

 close together, Captain Farrell, of the Miranda, warned 

 Captain Dixon to be in readiness, for the steamer was in 

 a sinking condition; the rusty top of the ballast tank had 

 gone to pieces. From the deck of the Rigel we could 

 dimly see the preparations going on aboard the Miranda 

 in case she should suddenly founder. Our captain had 

 urged Captain Farrel to drop into the boats with his crew, 

 and abandon the ship. This meant to himself the loss of 

 salvage, but the only thought of this big-hearted captain 

 was for the safety of his fellow-men upon the doomed ship. 



As the grey dawn began to streak the sky, the first boat- 

 load of the Miranda's crew came rowing over to the Rigel, 

 whose little dories were also put into the rescue service. 

 When the last boat load had reached the schooner, the 

 Miranda was abandoned to her fate. Her lights were still 

 burning, her rudder had been lashed to one side, and so 

 with steam on she vanished in the mist and fog, and was 

 lost to sight forever. With the ship the members of the 

 expedition lost all their belongings, except the very few 

 necessities they had brought with them on the schooner. 

 These losses embraced valuable ethnological and botanical 

 collections, a great number of guns and scientific instru- 

 ments, and various collections of photographs of Arctic 

 scenes and people, and quantities of stuffed Arctic birds, 

 seals, skins, etc. However, the saving of our own skins 

 was a matter for rejoicing, and the losses were cheerfully 

 accepted by all hands. 



With the Miranda's crew, there were now ninety-three 

 souls on board the little schooner, which was but ninety- 

 seven feet long. Fogs, head winds, high seas, and ice- 

 bergs combined to render the journey dangerous and slow, 

 as well as uncertain. Provisions ran low, so we shot gulls, 

 and reveled in seagull stews. When feasible, we added 

 to our store by running in at two or three settlements 

 along the Labrador coast. 



On the night of September 2, we encountered a severe 

 gale, and for several hours we were obliged to lay to under 

 a triple reefed foresail and forestay sail. The hatchways 

 were closed tight, and to add to our discomfort, the stove 



