The daily gazette., 1883-07-07
RESCUED FROM DEATH.
MARROW ESCAPE OF THIR-
TEEN MEN.
TAKEN OUT OF A LEAKY BOAT.
Baling Out Water for Two Days to Save
LiEe-A Modern Story That Reads Like
an Old Romance.

NEW YORK, July IA tale of misery
and suffering such as has not been recorded
in the history of sea life for several months
past came to light yesterday by the arrival
OF the Italian bark Samuele, from Palermo,
with Captain Esposito and a or of IL men
of the Italian bark Umberto Galatola which
foundered at sea June 10. The wrecked
mariners are all native OF Italy and cannot
speak English, but their haggard features
and wild-staring eyes told the story of their
hardships more strongly than words.
The story Of the sufferings of the wrecked
seamen was told to reporter of the World
by Captain Corroa, of the Samuele, aid, as
the captain said, "Coming second handed
as 1t does 1t but family portrays their actual
experience"
The bark Umberto Galatola left Torra-
veha, Spain, early il April last with cargo
of salt, bound for this city. Fair winds
were experienced and good time was made
up to June 16 last at 10 O'Clock a. M,
when in latitude 28.12, longitude 55.37
terrific squall struck the vessel, washing
everything movable from her decks and
causing her to leak badly. Two men were
| Kept at the pumps night and day, but the
water gained on them. The storm had
moderated somewhat and Captain Esposito
still stood by his ship, believing that he
could repair the damage as soon as the sea
| became calm. Several Intellectual attempts
were made, but still the gallant captain and
his crew would not abandon their vessel.
GOING DOWN BOW FIRST.
In the meantime the ater was slowly but
surely filling the ship. 1t flooded the hold
and washed the salt forward SO that the
Stern OF the vessel was almost above the
water. On the 18Th, Mt II o'elo at night,
while the men were at the pumps, the vessel
suddenly gave "a lurch forward, raised
| almost perpcndicuarly and sank head urr-
most inlu the -ea.
| The en, who ha been ready at auy
moment To take to the boats, hau seramhl Il
into one boat and were just ready Ia row
| away when the stern Lhc vessel struck
them as it disappeared beneath The waves,
nearly causing the boa tp capsize ana al
most filling it with water. rwo the Is
men set To work to bait OUT, but it was
| found that the small naIt had also been
damaged and was leaking
| AT this discovery cry of despair went
up, and as many as could do SO trantically
began to bail out with their hats, shoes and
hands; but they only succeeded in keeping
the boat from filling up, and did not gain
| an inch on the water.
There was not mouthlul of food on
board, and only small canteen of drinking
water with which one thoughtful seaman
had provided himself. This supply, how
ever, was hardly sufficient for one man.
TWO DAYS WITHOUT FOOD.
uH9 F9E II tive G EhGe sv9 gays " If. the gsE5y IaE6a
| any nourishment whatever. Four men were
kept bailiDg out until exhausted, when four
more would take their place. Had they
/ discon tinued bailing for even an hour the
| little craft would surely have filled and
sank. On the first day the sufferings of the
men were not SO great, but on the second
day feeling of exhaustion came over the
party and several times the seamen wished
to lay down and meet their doom, which
they considered inevitable.
Captain Esposito, however, talked with
them in a hopeful, ass Iring manner and
succeeded each time in bringing the half
starved and lifeless seamen to their right
| senses The men attempted to eat their
garments, but the brave captain prevented
| this and also kept them from drinking the
salt water. At last, on the 2lst, shortly be-
| fore midnight, light was seen in the dis
| tance, and with shout of joy the men sank
unconscious In the boat, all save Captain
Exposito and one man.
These two, fully realizing their position,
out of sight of land, in an open and leaky
| boat, with eleven helpless men, with almost
superhuman strength began to bail out, and
after a few minutes one or two of the eY-
hansted seamen regained consciousness, and
a consultation was held as to how to attract
the attention of the approaching vessel.
THEIR CLOTHES BURNING SIGNAL.
One seaman suggested that he had dry
match, but the question was, what could
they burn2 Suddenly a fright thought
came to Captain Esposito, and he made
them take off their clothes. This was done,
and everything that was partially dry was
pied up forward and set on fire. For
moment the mass of clothing smouldered,
| and despair seized the hearts of the men
whose lives depended upon the success of
their experiment.
Slowly, however, little flicker of fire was
| seen, which gradually developed, and soon
| fierce flame sprang upwards. With eager
| eyes the wearied men watched the reseuing
vessel for an answering signal. IG came
/ five minutes after their fire had started, and
| every man, faint and exhausted, gave way
with feeble shout OF joy, and sank half
| deae in their leaky b at.
"And this was how we found them" con-
tinued the reporters informant Thirteen
naked bodies laying as If dead, in four feet
of water, which was rapidly reaching the
sides of the boat. The weather was exceed
/ ingly cold and our hands were numbed In
| conveying the unconscious men to our ship.
| At first we despared of bringing the breath
/ of life back to some of them, but several
glasses of brandy were forced down their
throats and slowly one by one they came to
|
| once more been cheated of his prey.
"But how they ate and drank We were
compelled to use force with some of them,
for fear that they would gorge themselves to
death. 1t was over week before the poor
men were able TO walk about without assist
ance, but from that time they rapidly i'm
proved"
Captain Esposito and his crew will visit
the Italian Consul to day and will probably
be sent back to their native land by the first
steamer. The wrecked bark was built in
1876 at Faeta, Italy, for her owner, Mr.. A.
Galatola, of Naples. She has made several
trips to this country. Her gross tonnage
was SO tons. Her dimensions were:
Length, 1888 feet; breadth, 2s feet; depth of
hold, 20 feet.
| -.~% -s-~s
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