The Portland daily press., 1893-03-24
THE FATE OF THE LOUIS.
Norwegian Sailors Tell a Story Of
Great Hardship.
THEY MADE UP THEIR MINDS TO
DIE AT ONE TIME.

Steamer A1cides, Capt. Brown, Picked
Them Up When Hope Was Departing
A Tale of Great Suffering in the Re-
cent Storm.
The steamship Alcides, Capt Brown,
of the Donaldson line, arrived here from
Glasgow yesterday forenoon, after
very quick passage. She brought with
her the crew of the Norwegian bark
Louis, or Lauvig, Norway, who told a
thrilling story OF the great hardships
which they had undergone. The Lauvig
left Halifax few days ago with cargo
of lumber for Barrydock, England, and
manned by the following crew: Captain
Hansen, First Mate Aneers Hansen, Sec
ond Mate Ludwig johnson, Steward
John johnson and Seamen Alfred He'll
ickson, Michael Anderson, Peter Antoe-
sen, Olsen and Robert Vessel. All but
the last named are from Norway. We
sci, though Norwegian, is a resident
of Halifax, his home being at No. 120
Lower Water street. The Louis was
six days out from Halifax last Saturday
afternoon, when the weather began to be
very threatening. About 8 p. M, it be-
came evident that gale was upon them,
and Capt. Hansen ordered all hands up
to take in sail. A heavy northeast gale
was developing and the sea was begin
ming to run very high. When darkness S
shut down it was on an angry ocean,
and little Norwegian bark laboring
heavily in the seas. The deck load be-
gan to be washed away by degrees that
evening, and portions of it were going
overheard all night long. AS the night
wore away the condition of the bark
grew constantly worse. Heavy seas
swept constantly over her, and she be-
came finally almost completely unman-
ageable. By o'clock Sunday morning,
the situation was so bad that the captain
and crew found safety only in lashing
themselves to the weather side of the
poop deck.
They were in this position when the
disaster befell the Louis, which caused
every heart to lose hope. The gale and
the seas suddenly caught the bark, and
tossing it like boat Of paper, threw it
over until its yard arms sunk into the
water. Before the men dashed to the
rail could do anything to aid themselves.
if any aid had been possible, they found
themselves pulled down into the icy wat
er until only their heads were out. eve
expected to die right where we were,"
said one of the fair-haired Norwegian
sailors to the PRESS yesterday afternoon.
The bark had capsized, and there
seemed to be no power on earth to keep
them from being rolled under. But just
as the crew were giving up the last hope,
the remainder of the deck load slid off,
and to the joy of all the Louis righted
enough to bring the men out of the
water.
They were safe for the moment, but
their situation was terrible. When the
bark had rolled over the matches had
gone off, and she was full of water. The
main deck was soon swept by the seas,
boats were swept away, and there was
left for the crew only the circumscribed
limits OF the poop deck. This was their
situation when daylight came Sunday.
The storm still continued.
There was no opportunity to get dry
1o&1 tn, al aoa1~0I !,
icy water, the men were obliged to keep
waam by walking what little they could
on deck. They had no water and only
five cans of meat for the ten men.
All day Sunday they drifted at the
mercy of the waves Sunday night
there was no sleep, and Monday morning
dawned more hopeless than ever. The
men were exhausted, the cold and water
had swollen their feet to almost twice
their ordinary size, and they were suf-
fering their greatest agony. To add to
their despair three large steamers sailed
by along the edge of the horizon, near
enough for their spars to be seen by the
sufferers of the Louis. The men think
that the steamers must have seen their
flag of distress.
At 10 o'clock Monday forenoon an at
tempt was made to cut away the masts,
but they did not fall.
Finally, about or S o'clock Monday
evening, the masts of a large steamer
were sighted. 1t came nearer, and at
last the poor sailors began to have hope.
The steamer was the Alcides. She came
straight for the wreck, and as she
passed, the captain hailed and asked if
they had boat. The Norwegians re-
piled that they did not have one left.
The Alcides passed along, and despair
once more reigned in the hearts of the
shipwrecked men. But to their JOY the
steamer merely passed around to their
lee and there slowed down, while there
were on her decks evident preparations
to launch boat.
Capt. Brown had sighted the wreck