Omaha daily bee., 1897-03-19
Foun SAVED OUT OF Ercury-rwo.
Survivors of n ships Crew Undergo n
Terrible ENperIencc.


Terrible Experience.
NEW YORK, March 1S.-The steamer
Vile de St Nazaire, belonging to the French
line to the West Indies, sailed from New
York on March 6, for Port-au-Prince, Mayu-
gez, etc, with eighty persons on board, and
has not since been reported She was a
bark rigged screw steamer OF 2,6iO tons
register
Tho World publishes the following: The
schooner Hida that plies along the coast
between Perth Amboy and Savannah came
into port last night bearing with her story
horrible in the annals Of the Atlantic ocean,
She carried in her cabin four passengers
whom she picked up in a boat on Monday
ten miles of shore. 1t was Captain Reims,
skipper Of the Hilda, who first sighted the
boat. As the schooner drew nearer the out
lines of human figures were made out. Then
on the prov of the boat they saw the words
willie de St. Nazaire." A boat was lowered
and the chief mate and four seamen jumped
in and Towed out to the helpless craft
Nearer and nearer they came and the faces
OF the sailors gradually came into view. At
the brow Of the boat and apparently in
charge of the party was an old man wearing
the uniform of ships officer. The mate
presently recognized in the face, hollow and
sunken with the cold and want of many
days, the features of Captain Jules Berri
one of the best known of the commanders of
the Havre branch of the French line and
now long transferred to the West Indian
service. Behind him, on the center seat, were
two half dressed, coatless, hatless men, hug
gng themselves with each blast of the cold
wind and gibbering at the startled faces OF
the Hilda's sailors At their feet was
fourth man. The old man at the prov
opened his lips as II to speak but no sound
came from them. One by one the four men
were lifted In.
In the stern of the craft was fifth man.
One OF the sailors touched him on the arm
md hnCa m 1rat hft,,v L.,
he slid quickly off the seat and settled a life
less heap in the bottom of the boat Three
more corpses were in the boat. Then the
sailors towed the dreadful freight back TO
the Hilda. Nothing could be done but con-
sign the dead to the sea. Captain Berri
and the three men were carefully looked after
and partially brought back to life and reason
All they could tell was that the Vile de ST.
NaZare had somehow been wrecked or
abandoned and that these four men were
the survivors of these who had taken to the
boats, but how many were dead. how MANY
living, remained untold until midnight on
Tuesday, when Captain Berr, the first to re-
cover, was able to gasp out some words of
his story.
"Eight?'' was his first word in answer
TO question. Eight? There were more
than eight There were thirty-seven souls
on that boat when we abandoned the St
NaZaire. or all of these men and women
we four are the only ones left alive. The
others starved or froze where they sat. They
died in all ways. They sank, dropped off
one by one, except where they went mad
and then some Jumped into the sea and
ended in that way. The captain was the
first to go. The men were quiet enough till
they saw the women die Then they seemed
all at once to get raving, stark mad All
are here now. One, my comraGe. DR.. Marie
Stants, our engineer, aD9 Tagardi first
mate. That's all l can tell now.''
But with the hours the old man gradually
grew stronger and able to talk with some
thing like coherency and cearness DR.
Marie, too, recovered his speech and strength
enough to talk.
The Herald CLEANS the following partic-
ulars from stories of survivors: THE steam
ship encountered severe weather on March
Z while off Hatteras. Tremendous seas swept
over her. She rolled and pitched. Great
waves bore away the hatch coverings. Floods
of water found their way through the
gratngs to the engine room and
extinguished the fires. The vessel
was unable to make any headway. being
waterlogged. Captain Jaquenau gave the or
der to man the four boats. In the haste to
leave the vessel it was impossible to get
provisions water to last more than day
OF the four boats only one has been heard
from. 1t is believed the other three were
lost. The largest boat contained thirty-eight
persons. 1t had practically no provisions.
The small boat with the rescued people on
board was tossed about on the rough seas
for seven days and seven nights, and for
six OF those days and nights the passengers
were without food or drink"