Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1897-03-25

means Of the boats. and such passen-
gers as had been below before the fires
were drowned. came hurrying on deck
and chung there, mindless of the drench-
ing storms of spray that came flying
over the ship Darkness gave an added
horror to the scene and this night, the
survivors say. was as black as pit
They could make out the dark figures
of the seamen struggling TO get the
boats overheard, and heard the crashes
as boat after boat was dashed into
splinters against the side, until four of
the eight had been rendered useless
And then, at last, was the successful.
though hurried. launching of the other
boats and the crowding into them OF
passengers and crew. Then, none too
early, was the ship abandoned, for those
who reached here think that she
pitched under few minutes after the
last boat had showed clear.
In the haste to leave the vessel it was
impossible to get provisions or water
to last more than a day. OF the four
boats only one has been heard from.
1t is believed that the other three were
lost
The largest boat, the ships long boat.
contained IS persons. including six of
the passengers In the hurry of aban-
doning the ship there had been no time
to properly equip il with masts and
oars, nor would time admit of
provisions being passed aboard.
Dawn came and with it an eager
search of the sea line, but no
ship or boat could anywhere be seen.
The crew had then all they could do to
look out for their own craft. and Civ
ing a prayer for the safety of the three
that had gone from their horizon. they
turned their attention to their own sal
vation. Four children and their moth
er were in the boat-Mrs. Tagade and
her family. She was the wife of San
DOMINICAN, who was also in the craft
The little ones were terribly fright
ened at first, but the surges
did not quite engulf the craft,
and the mother managed to quiet
the fears of her children. only
to hear them beg for food and water
There was none to be had and when
day had come and went the pleadings
of the furnishing children became
heartrending.
AnOEucE Jay anu hopeless anu
death appeared on board Then was
claimed another, and yet another vic
tim, and the rawlings of the mad were
heard Some in the agony of thirst,
drank salt water to suffer fiercer pangs
and to become raving maniacs, with
whom the sane ones had to struggle to
prevent them doing harm. The
stouter ones managed the craft and re-
heved each other at the task. Some
leaned over the gunwale with heads
lOlling and frOth streaming from their
lips, and some others moved their
CLASSY eyes to the horizon. searching
vainly for that rescuer who would not
come. For six days and nights the
furnishing and grooming, mad with
thirst, ard then the slow-footed
rescuer came at last, but too
late to save any but the four
whose names have been given. -Four
dead were in the boat when the
four living were dragged from it, so
nearly dead themselves that they hard
ly knew that they had escaped the
death that had overtaken the others.
A complete passenger list of the YES
sci can not be obtained at this writing.
Most of the crew of "a men were
French. There were also some West
Indian negroes The passengers were
mostly business men on their way
home. Capt. Berry had been making
trip among the various offices of the
French line for the purpose of examin-
ing the books and auditing the bills.