The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1894-07-24
STRUCK AN ICEBERG
Steamer of the Cook Arctic
Expedition Nearly Wreck
ed by the Collision.
FORCED TO PUT BACK TO JOHNS
The Miranda Will Be Repaired
and Proceed on Her
Expedition.
ORCED TO PUT BACK TO ST. JOHNS

land, which lett mere sunday, y uly 10, re-
turned this morning disabled, having col
lided with an iceberg at the entrance to the
Straits of Belle Isle'
The accident occurred at eight o'clock
Tuesday morning last when the ship was
about eight miles north of Belle Isle during
a thick fog. The ship was going at full
speed. No danger was anticipated, when
a huge iceberg was sighted by the
seamen on watch. The alarm was immedi-
ately given. Engines were reversed, and
the speed of the ship was partly checked
just as she struck the iceberg. She struck
with her bow, and the force of the collision
drove in three plates on the starboard bow,
destroyed about twenty feet of her deck
rail, and completely smashed the hawse
pipe, rendering the starboard anchor use
less.
The Captain decided that it was not safe
to venture further north with only one
anchor, and decided to return here and have
tho damages to the ship repaired. The man
ayers of the expedition assented SO the ship
ran to Cape Charles Harbor, near Battle
Harbor Labrador Coast, where temporary
repairs were made Plates were rivited on
over the aperture, and the inside timbers
were strengthened The ship was stove
three feet below deck considerably above
L
water line, and the ship made no water.
WILL MAKE ANOTHER ATTEMPT.
1t is expected the damages to the ship will
all be repaired in ten days, when another at
tempt will be made to carry out the objects
of the expedition. Nearly all aboard de-
cided that this accident will not change their
determination TO reach Greenland, where the
ship will proceed directly as soon as she
starts again. the preliminary cruise along
the Labrador coast being abandoned.
The ship undergoes inspection by Lloyds
today Some of the passengers contemplate
abandoning the trip and will return to New
York. The great majority, however, will
continue the voyage.
There was an exciting scene aboard the
ship when she hit the iceberg. Some of the
passengers were breakfastIng, others were
in bed, while a few were on deck, In few
seconds after the collision the deck was
crowded with the passengers who feared
the boat was about to founder.
Some of them ran for the
boats, and began cutting the lashings,
getting ready to launch the boats. The few
who took the situation calmly soon managed
to pacify their excited fellow passengers and
assured them there was absolutely no danger.
The passengers are all in good health now
and little the worse for their exciting ex-
perience.
When the ship reached Cape Charles she
Pennsylvania, under Professor Charles Hite,
who intend exploring Grand Falls, Labra-
dor: also party of Yale students who in
tend to spend couple of months hunting,
and another party who go some two hundred
miles north by mail steamer to hunt bears
The accident occasioned no surprise here
as it is considered a great risk to take an iron
ship north.
THOSE IN THE PARTY.
The party from the University of Pennsyl-
vania left ashore at Cape Charles included
Professor Charles E. Hite, II. Buekneli,
George M. Coates and George FL. Perkins.
The second party consisted of Robert D.
Perry Phillipston, Mass; William Bryce,
New York; W. A. Reeve, Patchogue, Long
Island, and Charles P. Linrawraven.
The Yale party included w. S. Root of
Cleveland and s.. S. Tenney of Williams
town, Mass
The parties will return at different times
by tine mail steamers or on fishing vessels
Captain Farrell reports that they encoun-
tered unusually large quantities OF ice on
their brief trip north.
The Starting of the Expedition.
NEW YORK, July "a, 1S94-The Miranda,
bearing DR.. Cooks Arctic exploration party,
left this port on the afternoon of Saturday,
July7. She went out by way of He'll Gate
and the Sound Her passengers numbered
over fifty in ALL Most of them were scien-
fists and sportsmen, but there were also
some who went for the benefit simply of the
voyage and the pure northern air. The
party was confined solely to men, though
several women had planned to go.
The Miranda was chartered for two
months and a half. The plans were, after
stops at points in Nova Scotia and Cape
Breton, to cruise around Newfoundland and
cross David Strait to the west coast of
Greenland, where some of the scientists of
the party could dselpbark to explore the
fiords and to examine the fossil beds, the
ruins of the Norsemen and other things of
interest.
Later the Miranda was to enter Melville
Bay, and the headquarters OF Lieutenant
Peary, and parhaps the sites of the winter
quarters of Kane, Greeley and Hayes would
be visited. The return voyage was to be
along the coasts of Greenland and Labrador
to this city, the Miranda being expected to
arrive here on September Is. Ample op-
portunities, it was expected, would be afford
ed the sportsmen on board to shoot polar
bears, reindeer and other big game.
Prior to the departure from this city, DR..
Cook, the leader of the party, thought that
there would not be any danger from ice, as
he anticipated the Miranda would meet
nothing but rotten ice at this time of the
year.
A published SIaUe1nenU coming from Inlia-
delphia, intimating that the vessel was not
strong enough for sucn q trip, was rldicaled
by the Doctor. The Miranda is a vessel
which has made previous trips to the North,
and has always behaved well.
A large party of friends of the explorers
saw the Miranda. off from her point of de-
parture at Pier No. 6, North River.
Among those ontboard the Miranda We're
DR.. Frederick Cook commander of the ex-
pedition; William H. Brewer, professor Of
agriculture, Yale University; Prof. g. F.
Wright, D. D., LII. d., of Oberlin Col
lege Prof B. C. Jillson. M. D., of
Pittsburg, geologist; L. L. Dyke of Kansas
State University, zoologist Samuel R. Orth
and B. f. Staunton OF Oberlin, assistant
biologists; E. H. McIlhenry of Louisi-
anna, ornithologist; Professor Silas
p. Lyon of Harvard Schoo oil,
Chicago, viologist; DR.. Julius Vale, of st.
Louis, and DIR. P. II. Cramer, of New York,
surgeons; Louis l. w. Joyner, of Pough-
keepsie, entomologist; Russell w Porter, of
Boston, and Robert De P. Tytus, of New
haven, surveyors; H. Q. Walsh, historian.
There were the officers of the expedition.
They were assisted by Maynard Ladd, J.
r Fordyce. Il. Cleveland and Frederick p
Cav of Harvard, and W. H. Dunnlay G., p
and T. I. Lineweaver. Arthur r. Thompson,
a. r. Rogers, A. C. Brown and J. A. Rum
I'll of Yale.
Some of the enthusiastic sportsmen who
accompanied the expedition were Robert
d. Perry, Braintree, Mass: g. w. Gard
ner, ex-Mayor Of Cleveland, Oh Ashley