The San Francisco call., 1897-03-29
BLANT THEIRS LAST DAYS WERE
PASSED IN REPENTANCE
The Cruel Murderer of Mrs. PhiIopena Langfeld
Found Consolation in Uplifting
Verses.

appearance. Their faces were wan and
haggard, their eyes were bulging from
their sockets and their scant clothing
hung about them in loose folds. All were
| in a condition of the greatest exhaustion
and were unable to stand when they
reached the decks. Two of the number
had lost their reason from the terrible
sufferings they had endured and they had
| to be restrained by the men of the steamer.
| The boat had left the St. Nazaire in
such haste that she had not been properly
provisioned. There was only a small tin
of biscuits aboard OF her, and this, 1T is
believed, was part of the stores supposed
| to be kept in the lifeboats for use in just
| such a contingency as mad occurred.
| After three days of the best care possi-
| BILE to give the rescued people with the
meager facilities of the steamer all OF
| them were able to partake of solid food.
Thereafter they progressed favorably, but
had not yet fully recovered from the ef-
| fects of their terrible experience.
| The survivors are: Pierre Nicolais, Sec
ond captain; Germain Giraud, Sc cond en-
glneer; P. Lauretzetti, third engineer (all
belonging in Marseiiles); Nicolas Sauva-
mel, Cuba, a passenger; twelve sailors be-
longing to Martinique.
| In an interview with one of the officers
he described the cspsizing or smashing of
the boats when they were attempting to
leave the st. Nazaire. When the boat in
which the survivors were found was
launched Second Captain Nicolas took
command of her. The weather was ex-
tremely rough and continued so for sew
eral days. & sail was rigged and Captain
Nicolas managed to keep her running
head to the wind. This, though dan
geroEs maneuver. was the only thing pos
sible to do under the circumstances as to
have kept the boat on any other point OF
sailing would have resulted in her being
swamped. As it was the combing seas
followed close upon the stern of the boat
and every moment threatened to break
aboard and fill her. The water constantly
poured over the gunwales and every soul
in the boat was drenched to the skin. The
water was bailed out, and this work un-
doubtedly saved the lives of some of the
men, Tor otherwise they might have been
frozen to death. The salt encrusted on
their faces and hands and caused much
pain.
The suddenness with which it was nec-
essary to abandon the st. Nazaire pre-
vented any attempt being made to put a
supply of water in the boat. Some OF the
| men withstood the tortures of thirst as
long as it was possible for human nature
to do so. Then. maddened by the torture
to which they were subjected, they drank
sea water. Their agony was then worse
than ever, and in short time they went
mad and jumped into the ssa= The
strongest OF the men refrained from put
ting the sea water into their mouths and
prevented by force some of the others
from doing so. Those who were mad
dened by drinking were held in the boat
until the strength OF their would. be sa-
vors failed, when with cursing cries they
threw themselves overheard to escape the
torture that was racking their frames.
Words cannot express the agony that
was experienced by all. Day after day
| they valnly scanned the heaving breast
/ OF the ocean for sight of sail. GulIs fly
ing close to the sea or the breaking top OF
wave were frequently mistaken for a
gleam of a vessel, and finally all hands
/ almost abandoned hope of ever being
| picked up.
On the morning OF March Is the smoke
| of steamer was seen streaming in long
line upon the distant horizon. For a
/ long time it could not be determined what
| course she was steering, and the men were
| fairly frantic with fear lest she would not
see them. The steamer was then too far
away to allow of sigma, from the boat
being seen. Ultimately the topmasts,
lower masts and then the hull of the
steamer csme up in full view, and then a
signal was set.
The men were now maddened with