THE LAST CKUISE OF THE MIRANDA. 129 



ners that we had borne through mist and snow and ice. 

 It was a gala night, and many were the speeches, songs, and 

 toasts that were called out by the toast-master, Mr. James D. 

 Dewell, of New Haven, who presided in a most happy man- 

 ner. The banquet broke up at about midnight, and then 

 farewells began to be said, for many of the party took early 

 trains and scattered in various directions. 



A large remnant of the party, however, waited to take the 

 little steamer St. Pierre, which, through the courtesy of Bow- 

 ring & Archibald, owners of the late Miranda, was sent to 

 Sydney to take the party to Halifax, there to meet the steamer 

 Portia, a sister ship of the Miranda, and thence to go on to 

 New York. 



"With three cheers for our host, Colonel Granger, we left 

 the comfortable Sydney Hotel and boarded the St. Pierre, 

 the following morning. A snug, nice little ship she was, and 

 we enjoyed immensely the trip to Halifax. We landed at 

 this city on the afternoon of September 7, and found the Por- 

 tia waiting for us, and immediately boarded her and were 

 assigned staterooms. The Portia, however, was not to start 

 for New York until ten o'clock the following morning, so 

 we put in the time very agreeably in seeing the sights and 

 surroundings of the beautiful city of Halifax. Here we pro- 

 cured New York and Boston papers several days old, which 

 stated that the Miranda and its passengers and crew were 

 probably lost ; but we knew that by this time our despatches 

 from Sydney must have been published, and that our relatives 

 and friends were assured of our safety. It was like reading 

 one's own obituary notice to glance over the sensational 

 prognostications of our probable doom. 



Promptly at ten o'clock on the morning of September 8 

 we started for New York, feeling that our adventures and 

 dangers were a thing of the past ; and yet on this short and 

 generally uneventful trip occurred the real tragedy of our 



