The daily Cairo bulletin., 1884-11-29
Terrible Tale of Suffering and
Death by Three Lost
Mariners.
Sixty Hours Of Hunger and Ice-Two
Become Insane and Que Of Them Dies
Reduced to Oannibalism.
How the Survivors Were Sighted by a
Passing Vessel, and Rescued
From Their Peril.

Drought mto port yesterday fuot Marsnal
Bertrand and Alfred Twanson, Nor
wegian, two of the three men who on
Monday morning left the pilot boat
Turley In skif for the purpose OF
putting Thomas Marshall, another pilot,
on board the steamship Pennsylvania,
which was bound for Philadelphia. They
succeeded In performing this duty and
started back TO regain the Turley. 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
800 miles OF 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 unmauageable, and the wind and
sea rose higher every moment. When day
light broke they were drifting rapidly to
sea before a strong northwest gale, and
then abandoned all hope except that they
might be carried within sight Of some
vessel. This was but forlorn chance,
as 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. All
they could do was to keep her as much as
possible before the wind.
Tho uaathar Npas hittarly cpld and thnv
had left the Turley in such haste that they
had failed 10 take their thicker clothing
or TO throw in any water and provisions.
Soon the spray froze upon their oiskins,
| and their stiffened muscles refused to do
| their duty. One man attended the helm,
| while the others attempted to keep the
| boat from swampng by constant bailing.
All Monday, Monday night and Tues
day they drifted aimlessly about, suffer-
ing the extremes OF hunger, thirst and
cold. Toward dusk on Tuesday evening,
both the Norwegians became delirious,
aud 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
| II escaped from filling or capsizing. He
SAYS that he occasionally sank into a
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 con.
sciousness.
He supposes that 1t was abe ut midnight
| OF Tuesday when one OF The Norwegians,
whose name neither himself nor Swanson
| 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 dersnged man was
too feeble to carry out his intention. Ex-
hausted by his long fast, and clad in his
icy garments IS In q coat OF mail b, lell
shrieking and gasping across the thwarts
at Bertrsnd's feet, and In few minutes
he was dead.
The clouds had passed away; the moon
had risen, and its beams fell upon the
colored features OF the dead sailor, upon
whose face the freezing spray quickly
formed film OF ice.
To add to the peril OF the remaining
men, the boat shipped q 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 It's place
Thus he freed the boat from water, but
his unprotected foot was frozen. Swan
son was 80 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.
ron IN search of a sail, but saw nothing
As his glance fell upon the corpse of the
dead sailor, 1t occurred to him that |,
might be the means Of prolonging life un
til rescue came. Horrible as the idea ol
cannibalism was to him, he realized tina,
nothing else remained between them ant
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 sec
had gone down, and the day was bright
Bertrand knew II they could keep alive
until nightfall, they would In all likeli
hood be picked up, as they could not b,
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 will
him With the small remnant OF strength
left them they tore the stifened oilskin
and the underclothing from the dead man
and left q portion Of tie body exposed
Into his breast and shoulder they plunged
their knives, and eagerly sucked tn,
blood from the wounds. They immedi
ately felt refreshed, and the torture
which they had experienced were allayed
Pausing for moment In their work, the.
returned to II, and cut strips Of flesl
from the corpse.
Each devoured little, though Bertran,
says II was with loathing which only tn
conviction OF self-preservation could en-
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 wen
down, Bertrand saw passing Its disk
vessel not more than mile distant an
heading almost directly toward them
The welcome vision animated him, an
: springing to his feet with some vlgor h
stretched himself to his full height In tn
stern-shccts, and drawing off his oilski
coat, swung It high above his head.
Just NJ this moment fortune aide
him; the boat mounting high upon tn
crest Of = long roller, SO that II wa
thrown into full View Of the lookout o
the weasel, For q moment she held hi