THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA. 119 



were still burning, her rudder had been lashed to one side, 

 and so, with steam on and her propeller going, she slowly 

 steamed away ; and the fog fell around her like a curtain, 

 and she was lost to sight for ever. 



Slie might keep afloat for a few hours, but, according to 

 the chief engineer, she was a doomed ship. Soon such tem- 

 porary repairs to stop leakage as had been made would give 

 way and the waters would close above her, and she with her 

 precious freight would join the mighty procession of wrecks 

 far down in the deep waters. The Miranda was abandoned 

 in latitude 61° 15', longitude 58° 40', 296 miles from Sukker- 

 toppen. 



With the ship the members of the expedition lost all their 

 belongings except the few necessaries they had brought with 

 them on the schooner. Valuable ethnological and botanical 

 collections (over five thousand Arctic plants had been gath- 

 ered), a great number of guns and scientific instruments, the 

 largest collection ever made of photographs of Arctic scenes 

 and people, and quantities of stuffed birds, seals, skins, etc., all 

 went down with the ill-fated ship. However, the saving of 

 our own skins was matter for rejoicing, and the losses were 

 cheerfully accepted by all hands. If the Lord loves a cheer- 

 ful giver, I hope a cheerful loser may also find favor. There 

 arose none of those bemoanings over spilled milk that are 

 often harder to put up with than the losses themselves. 



There were now ninety-three souls on board our little 

 schooner. No time could be lost, and soon Captain Dixon 

 was sailing with all possible speed for Hamilton Inlet, on 

 the coast of Labrador, about 380 miles away. But fogs, 

 head-winds, high seas, and icebergs combined to render the 

 journey dangerous and slow as well as uncertain. It was 

 decided to put in at the first feasible point on the Labrador 

 coast, then pass through the straits of Belle Isle, and 

 finally to land at Sydney, Cape Breton. 



