Elmore bulletin. [volume] (Rocky Bar, Idaho) 1889-1906, 1897-03-24
A TERRIBLE DISASTER
Exposure, Starvation, Mad
ness, Then Death.
LOSS OF THE VILE STE. NAZAIRE
An Ocean Tragedy of Exceptional
Horror-Eighty Lives Lost
Stories of Survivors.


crew of the steamer Vile Ste. Nazaire,
which sailed from this port March 8
for Port au Prince, Hayti, only four
are known to have survived the disas-
ter which befell the craft few hours
later. These four passed through an
experience such as fortunately has been
the lot of but few, seeing one after an
other of the thirty-one others who left
the steamer in a large boat perish of
exposure to the cold or die of hunger,
some suffering, during the seven days
in which they drifted helplessly with
out sail or compass, pangs that drove
them to madness before death came to
their relief.
Among the survivors is Senior Tagado,
San Domingian, who was compelled
to witness the death of his wife and
four children without being able to al
leyiate their sufferings. What became
of the forty four persons besides these
mentioned above can only be surmised,
although there is remote possibility
that one or more of the three boats in
which they left the sinking steamer in
the midst of a fierce storm off Cape
Hatteras, has been picked up by sail
ing vessel.
The Vile Ste. Nazaire was single
screw bark-rigged steamer of 2, $40 tons
register. She was owned by the Com
pagnie Trans-Atlantique Generate. The
accident wildly recalls the fate of the
same company's steamer Vile de Havre,
which went down November %, 1878,
with 226 people on board. The Vile
Ste. Nazaire was commanded by Cap
tain Jaguena, sailor OF experience and
ability. Hard weather was experienced
from the time the steamer left this port
until the water began pouring into and
over her, and it was determined to
abandon her. The passengers and crew
took four boats, the fifth having been
crushed in the attempt to lower it.
There had been no time to provision
the boats. 1t was night, and in the
midst of a storm the transfer was made
Captain Berri, manager of the West
Indian line of the Compagnie Trans
Atlantique Generate, was one of the 80
men who embarked in the larger of the
boats, and upon him developed the
command of that frail refuge for SO
many souls. He, Senior Tagado, Lautz,
the third engineer, and Maire, the
ships doctor, are the only ones suryiy-
ing They We're brought to Perth Am
boy yesterday by the schooner Hilda,
which came upon them March ID, as
they We're drifting at sea with the dead
bodies of four of their fellow passengers
in a small boat The survivors were
almost dead from starvation and expo
sure, and were too weak to relieve the
small boat of the weight of the corpses
The four rescued men were brought to
this city from Perth Amboy in the tug
Idlewild last night. Captain Berri is
being attended by DIR. L. Deplezze, who
entertains doubts of his recovery, and
declares that he must have endured
most terrible harships.
The Ste Nazaire cleared from New
York for Port au Prince on March 6.
On the following day, according to the
story told by one of the survivors, the
leak was discovered, but it was not
thought to be sufficiently serious to war;
rant return to port. BY the middle
of the second day, however, the leak
had increased to a dangerous extent,
and portion of the cargo on the port
side of the vessel was damaged by the
water, which had commenced to pour
in in great quantities. A terrible
storm arose on the night of the second
day, and the heavy seas, together with
the big leak, rendered the escape of the
vessel from shipwreck an impossibility.
Realizing that the ship was doomed,
the captain ordered the four lifeboats
to be lowered, and into them crowded
the passengers and crew. The boats
were soon swept apart by the wind and
waves.
The boat which was found by the
Hilda six days after the sinking of the
steamship is the only one of the four
boats that has been heard of. Thirty
five persons, it is said, were crowded
into the boat from which the survivors
were taken. One by one all but the
four rescued men died from exposure or
hunger, or were swept into the deep by
waves which broke over the small boat.
The bodies of the dozen who died in
the boat during the first days of its ter
rible voyage were thrown over board
by the survivors. But those who with
stood the elements and managed to live
without food or drink, at last became
too weak to rid the boat of its ghastly
freight, and were compelled for days to
gaze upon the stiffened corpses of their
unfortunate companions. Agent Forget,
of the French line, is doing all in his
power to make the survivors comforta-
i BILE.
Captain Berri, who is 55 years of age
and a trusted employe of the French
line, is under the care of doctor
The physician found his PATIENTS throat
fearfully parched and his lungs in the
same condition. After examination,
the doctor said that with careful treat
ment he might recover. 1t would be
over week, however, before he could
take any solid food. The captain s
body is covered with bruises from being
thrown about the boat while she was
tempest-tossed.