The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1898-08-16
SAVED BY 4 PocKETKNIFE.
survivor Of tho VILE do HAvro Tells Of
Ravnarh~Mpa

Survivor Of the Vile do HAvro Tells Of q
| Remarkable Escape.
t By the anking Of In Bourgogne and
the awful loss Of life is recalled the acci-
dent to the Vile de Havre Of the same
line In 1879, when the latter named ship
was struck at night and went down at
once, carrying almost all on board. Piti-
fully few were those who were saved from
the Havre, but among them was the
prominent New York lawyer Witthaus,
and the way in which he escaped is 80 ex-
traordinary that 1t sounds like we'll con-
oocted tale instead Of the plain fact that
Mr.. Witthaus vouches it to be.
The afternoon preceding the accident to
tho Havro Mr.. Witthaus, with another
man, was on deck, and Mr.. Witthaus was
leaning against the taffrail under the flag
staff in the stern. As the two men stood
there talking the friend put his hand on
the large life buoy that was hanging over
the side and called Mr.. Witthaus' atten-
tion to it.
"Look," he said, "these life buoys are
simply screaming farces. This one out
here is so stiff and hard with coats of paint
that y0n couldn't get 1t free except by
cutting it with knife"
Mr.. Witthaus attempted to move 1t, but
found it glued hard and fast. The friend
took out his knife and began idly sticking
1t into the soft pine Of the flagstaff and
amused himself go the rest of the time that
they talked before theAwere interrupted
by the dinner gong. They both won't be-
low.
Early the next morning while the pas
sengers were still asleep the collision &C.
CURED, and in the mad panic that at once
followed Mr.. Witthaus did what he could
to get the women and children into the
lifeboats. From the first he regarded him
self as doomed, for there were not nearly
boats enough for all the passengers, and IL
was evident that the ship would float only
few minutes. Several women whom he
knew on board he found places for at once
only to SEQ the boat overturn a. soon as 1t
was launched and all go down, one Of
them with her two little children IN her
arms.
Mortified and sckened by the sight, he
went back to the stern Of the ship, which
was higher out Of the water than the bow,
to wait until he, too went down, and
stood leaning again on the taffrail. As he
did SO in flash he recollected the converse
ton of the afternoon before and looked
over the rail. There still hung the life
buoy stiff and tmmovable, and the in
Btfnct Of self preservation" spfahg to fife !
once more. A knife to free the buoy and
he might be saved, but he had none with
him, and to find one was impossible with |
the ship liable to go down at any second.
At the same moment his eye caught the |
flagstaff, and there, where his friend had |
evidently forgotten 1t the afternoon before,
stuck the knife. With the haste Of life and |
death Mr.. Witthaus pulled it out and be-
gan to saw away at the buoy, and he freed
1t and threw himself off the deck into the
sen just in time to get beyond the vortex
that came rs the great ship went down,
sucking hundreds of victims with it. Mr..
Witthaus floated about for some time, and
was at last picked up by a small boat that
was waiting abont for chance survivors
and was brought back to New York to tell
of one Of the most awful catastrophies that
ever happened at sea.-New York Press.