THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA. 31 



portion of the berg above our water-line, so that the blow 

 came upon the upper starboard bow-plates ; three of these were 

 cracked or stove in, the hole running upward from about 

 fifteen feet above the water-line. It was a great piece of 

 luck that we did not strike the great mass of ice below the 

 water which forms by far the greater part of an iceberg, the 

 proportion of ice under the water to that above it being about 

 eight to one. It was the projecting ice above that saved us 

 from tearing out the bottom of the ship by striking the vast 

 mass below ; had we hit upon this, my readers would have 

 been spared this narrative. 



As the Miranda steamed cautiously forward again we 

 passed close to the berg that had so nearly caused our ruin, 

 and it certainly was an awe-inspiring mass of ice — perhaps 

 a thousand feet in length and upward of two hundred feet 

 high. We could see the hole that we had made, smeared 

 as if with blood, from red paint about the prow of the 

 Miranda. Slowly the great berg disappeared into the fog, 

 which had somewhat lifted, and we were much relieved to 

 get out of its dangerous proximity. There were plenty more 

 of its companions, however, silently and slowly moving south- 

 ward, so that a sharp lookout was kept as we went onward 

 toward Cape Charles harbor, on the Labrador coast, about 

 twenty-five miles away, and the nearest port to put in for re- 

 pairs. A meeting of the passengers was called soon after 

 the collision, and it was decided to put in to Cape Charles for 

 repairs, and then continue on our journey. We reached 

 Cape Cliarles early in the afternoon ; but as we had a variety 

 of experiences and adventures before we again put out from 

 this port, it will be well to relate them in a succeeding 

 chapter. 



