130 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA. 



remarkable summer's outing. We started with bright and 

 clear skies overhead ; but it was not long before the long- 

 familiar fog that had dogged us everywhere overtook us 

 here. On the evening of the 9th a heavy fog descended 

 and hung about us, now scaling, now falling again, and 

 continued on the following day. We were in familiar waters 

 off Cuttyhunk Light, and were assembled at the lunch-table 

 at about one o'clock on the 10th. The curtain of fog had 

 descended again; suddenly we heard the signal for reversing 

 the engine, and the next moment we crashed into some 

 heavy object, followed immediately by a noise as if the ship 

 were crunching and tearing its way through some obstruction ; 

 then the Portia stood still and trembled. It was not such 

 a crash as when we struck the iceberg; nor, again, such a 

 one as we had experienced when upon the rocks off Sukker- 

 toppen, but it was ominous enough to presage danger. 



The lunch-table was quickly deserted, and on deck a scene 

 of pitiful disaster revealed itself. We had run into a schooner 

 and literally cut her in two, and a portion of her bow, with 

 foremast and rigging, was lying across our deck. The fog 

 had lifted as if by magic ; for a moment we could see the 

 stern of the schooner lifted high in air, and upon its taffrail 

 were two men cutting away at the yawl ; then the remnant of 

 the schooner plunged into the sea and sank instantly. No 

 other men were seen, and the rest of the crew must have been 

 knocked overboard or sunk with the bow. As the vessel 

 sank but one man came to the surface, afterward found to be 

 the mate. He swam among the debris, and, finally reaching 

 a spar, managed to keep afloat until rescued by a boat from 

 the Portia. The other man whom we saw seemed unable to 

 keep his head above water, but we could see him striking out 

 under water, as if endeavoring to reach the surface ; the suc- 

 tion was evidently too strong for him, and before our eyes he 

 was dragged down into the sea and lost to sight. The mate, 



