The herald., 1897-03-29
All Helpless and Two
Raving Mad
CASTAWAYS RESCUED AT SEA
OF THE ILL-FATED CREW OF
THE ST. NAZAIRRE
Rescued When Almost Dead From
Exhaustion and Almost Mad
From Privations

Associated Press Special Wire.
LONDON, March 2S.-The British
steamer Yanaraiva, Captain weston
which left Newport News on March 10
bound for Glasgow, arrived at Green
ock tonight. The captain reports tnac
on March IL, while in latitude 81, longi-
tude II, he picked up small boat con-
tanning sixteen survivors of the steamer
Vile de ST. Nazairre of the West 1ndian
line of the Compagne General Transas-
lantiaue, which foundered in the great
storm of March 7th off Cape Hatteras.
They had been without food and water
for four days, and were in state OF ex-
treme exhaustion and were bordering
on madness. The officers OF the an
aravia did all in their power for the un-
happy victims of an ocean horror, ana
finally learned their story.
They say that four boats were launch
ed, two containing tw wenty-nine eacn' the
third seventeen and the fourth six. Tne
boat picked UP by the Yanaraiva was
one of the two that took off twenty-nlne'
but thirteen of these succumbed TO ex-
posure hunger and thirst. lne iast
the survivors saw of the other boats
was on the day the vessel foundereo'
when they sighted two of them lashed
together and empty For some time az
| ter the rescue the captain OF the ana
raiva kept an officer at the mast head,
sweeping the horizon with glass, III tha
hope of getting some trace OF the otner
boats, but there was no sign Oh theIn'
AS night was falling rapidly, and the sea
and wind were increasing, with mist ana
rain. the vessel proceeded. The second
officer of the Vile de st. Nazairre ID
among the rescued, who will be taken IN
charge by the French consul at GlasgoW'
--.---- SAFE IN PORT.
The circumstances under which the
rescued boat was picked up by the Yam
araiva were the most thrilling. The
captain and third officer who were on
the bridge, saw dark object on the
water several miles away. The steamer
was put about and in less than an hour
met the life boat of the Vile de st. Ma
zairre. The sea was running rough, but
the Yanaraiva's crew managed to haul
the boat on board. They found to their
amazement the occupants lying abso-
lutely helpless in the bottom. and two
of them raving mad. The only signs OF
food was one small tin of biscuits.
Three days passed before the rescued
men had sufficiently recovered to take
solid food.
The survivors of the original twenty
nine are the second captain, Pierre
Nuolai; the second engineer, Germain
Giraud; the third engineer. Prosper
Lorezetti; Nicholas Siauvianelle Of
Port Au Prince. Hayti and twelve sea-
men from Martinique.
Second Captain Nuolai says that on
the 9th of March the vessel sprung a
leak. A violent hurricane blew that
night and during the following day. On
the morning of the Sth the ship had sunk
so low in the water that it was necessary
to take to the boats, although the storm
was still at its height. The Vile de
:, st. Nazairre had a complement Of eight
! life boats. The first four launched were
dashed against the side of the vessel
and crushed to pieces. The other four
got clear, but soon parted company.
"Our boat" said the second captain,
did not ship a drop of water when get
ting away from the vessel This was
/ due to the promptness with which we
sheered off. The weather continued very
! boisterous and the waves sometimes
almost swamped US. We kept bailing for
our lives with our caps After while
we rugged sail and kept the boat run
ming before the wind as well as we
could. We were drenched and our suf-
| ferings were terrible. In spite of every
warning some began to drink salt water.
Several of these went mad and
jumped overheard. Those who refrained
from drinking Jared the best. We kept
constant lookout for sail, but saw
none until the morning of the 18th when
we sighted a steamer. She was too far
away for us to signal her. We watched
with mad anxiety as we saw her steer
ing for u.s. At that moment we had
only four inches of free board on the
boat. Every minute / expected she
would go to the bottom. At last the
Yanavaira reached us and we were
hauled on to the deck