St. Landry democrat., 1884-12-06
PHILADELPHIA, Pa, November 2S.

Frenzy, Death and Cannibalism-A Timely
Rescue,
PHILADELPHIA, Pa, Novemher2S.
A dispatch from Lewis, Del, says: The
hrce-masted schooner Helen L. Angel,
from Georgetown, S. c., for BaltimoG2,-
brought into port yesterday Pilot Marshal
Bertrand and Alfred Swanson, Nor
Wegian, two OF the three men who on
Monday morning left tie pilot bout
Turley in a skiff for tac purpose Of.
putting Thomas Marshall, another pilot!
on board the steamship Pennsylvania,
which was bound for Philadelphia. They
succeeded in performing this duty AMI
started back to regain the Turlcy. The
weather was very rough, and they never
reached their vessel. 1t was supposed
they were lost. Several pilot boats were
sent in search of them, and one cruised
300 miles off the coast without finding
them. Bertrand tells the following hor-.
rible story:
Soon after leaving the Pennsylvania
they found that in the darkness they had
lost their bearings. They had no COM
pass on board, and not one of the Della,
ware lights was visible. Their frail boat
became unmanageable, and the wind and
sea rose higher every moment. When day
light broke they were drifting rapidly to,
sea before strong northwest gale, and
then abandoned all hope except that they
might be carried within sight of some
vessel. This was but forlorn chance
Is Bertrand knew that only by some lucky
accident would their craft, which most Of
the time was in the hollow of the seas, be
sighted from the deck of any vessel. AlE
they could do was to keep her as much as
possible before the wind.
All Monday, Monday night and Tues
day they drifted aimlessly about, suffer-
1lg the extremes of hunger, thirst and4
cold. Toward dusk on Tuesday evening"
both the Norwegians became delirious,
and before Bertrand could control them,..
they lost oars and everything else that
was loose in the boat.
Thus left without means of handling
The skiff Bertrand can hardly explain how
il escaped from filling or capsi2ing He
says that he occasionally sank into q
stupor in which the raving of his ship
mates, the roar of the wind, and the LASH
ing of waves, were curiously mingled
in whatever remained with him of cone
sciousness.
He supposes that it was about midnight
of Tuesday when one of the Norwegians,.
whose name neither himself nor SWansen<,
knew, drew his sailors knife from its
sheath and made several plunges at him,
declaring that he would kill him and
drink his blood. The deranged man was
too feeble to carry out his intention. Ex-.
aausted by his long fast, and clad in his
icy garments as in a coat of mail he fell
shrieking and gaspfng across the thwartsa
att Bertrand's feet, and in few minutes
he was dead.
To add to the peril of the remaining
men, the boat shipped great deal of
water. The bailer was among the things,
that the crazy men had thrown overheard,
and Bertrand was forced to take off one.
of his rubber-boots to use in its place..
Thus he freed the boat from water, but
his unprotected foot was frozen. Swan
son was so near death as to be incapable.
of rendering any assistance, and except
when he was raVing he lay like log.
When the sun rose on Wednesday morn
ing Bertrand eagerly scanned the hori-
zon in search of sail, but saw nothing
As his glance fell upon the corpse of the
dead sailor, it occurred to him that it
might be the means OF prolonging life tn-
til rescue came. Horrible as the idea OF
cannibalism was to him, he realized that
nothing else remained between them ana
death He reused Swanson, and was
happy to discover that his mind had
comparatively cleared and that he under
stood what was said to him.
The cold had not abated, but the ses
had gone down, and the day was bright,
Bertrand knew if they could keep alive
until nightfall, they would in all likeli
hood be picked up, as they could not be
out of the path Of the coasting vessels
Then came the supreme moment. Ber~
trand indicated to Swanson what he pro-
posed to do, and the latter agreed with
him. With the small remnant of strength
left them they tore the stiffened ,oilskinGs
and the underclothing from the dead man..
and left portion of the body exposed.
Into his breast and shoulder they plunged
their knives, and eagerly sucked the
blood from the wounds. They immedi.
ataly felt refreshed, and the torturcSa
which they had experienced were a!laycd..
PauSing for a moment i'll their.Work, they
returned to it, and cut strips OF fiesha
from the corpse.
Each devoured little, though BertrandE
says it was with a loathing which only the.
conviction of self.preseryation could Ell
able him to conquer.
They then laid back under the gun.
wales Of their craft, occasionally raising.
their heads to scan the waters for sail.
They were scarcely conscious Of the pas
sage of time; but when the sun went
down, Bertrand saw passing its disk a,
gessel not more than mile distant andS
heading almost directly toward them.
The welcome vision animated him, andl
springing 10 his feet with some vigor he