The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1898-02-14

second officer of the ST. Louis, COM
manded the third boat, which also tooA
eighteen passengers. By the time 'ho
third boat had pushed off from the V eoN
dam, I had again arrived with my po'''
| and in the meantime two OF the
dams life boats had been loWefoo,
manned by the first and second olhceis y,
| the Veendam. The second boat founoefoo
before any passengers had been oaNoN
| aboard. The crew, however. were quloN'y
rescued. 1t was $50 a. IN. when the i''O
| boat pulled up to the side of the st. LOUIS
Just three hours and ten minutes AFTER ohe
| first boat had left our ship. The last man
to leave the Veendam was Captain oten-
| ger. I had to call him before he swung
! himself over the side and left the ship. by
this time the stern of the Veendam mad
settled perceptibly and her bow was al
most entirely clear of the water. Be1ofe
leaving the Veendam Captain Stenger set
fire to various parts of the cabin.
"Aside from the women and Children
most of the passengers on the Veendam
behaved heroically. Though the sea was
running very high, we were in llttle
danger of being swamped, 'Eexcept when
actually close to the ships sides.
First Officer Fred Seagrave has a
splendid record. This l. the second rescue
in which he has played a prominent part.
A PASSENGER'S STORY.
Archer Brown of this city was passen-
ger on.the St. Louis. Nj. Brown described
the scene on the ST. Louis, while the res
cue was in progress, and said:
| tNearIy all of the passengers on the st.
Louis were in bed when the news quickly
| spread that wreck had been sighted
Then we crowded on deck. We could see
the glare of the sky rockets and could
hear the shrieks of the women on the
Veendham. The excitement among the
passengers on board the St. Louis was in
tense We cheered the rescuers as they
pushedsoff for the Veendam. 1t was per-
haps three quarters of an hour before the
first life boat had returned. In it we
could see about twenty children, all cry
ing Justify. Officer Seagrave was doing
his best to quiet them.
| ASeS~A
women ministered to the wants of the
poor ,sw1etched creatures who were hauled
on board more dead than alive, was a
sight worth seeing. The rescued womens
after they had partially recovered, began
to cry for their children and2sswhen they
found them they cried for joy. 1t seems
to me that some of us men, snivelled a
| but when the men came on aboard we
were more in our element. We gave them
whiskey and did I'll EN- no end of GOOD.
As the last boat hove in sight. a glare
| burst out. The Vecndam was on fire.
The rescued passengers, huddled together
set up wall. They had nothing in the
world except what was on their backs.
Mendall Manioff and Davi Devinshke
two steerage passengers of the Veendam
both hailing from Russian Poland, told 8
joint story of what befell the Inflated
lHolland-American liner.
"We had fairly pleasant voyage from
the start. 1t was after O'Clock on Sun
day and we were three days out, thai
there came terrible crash. We did Do1
know what was the matter. The women
most partz sick, sprang from their cots
and began to rush about. They shriekef
dreadfully. ~
'The ship stopped and from the rushing
around we knew that there must be some
terrible trou BILE, and we began to pray tt
EGod for his protection suddenly ono 20
the officers came into the steerage aat
ordered all the men on deck. We obeyet
and were put to work on the pumps bu
could do no good. We were exhausted
when ship came in sight.
tThe crew of the Veendam were badl.
brave fellows. Not man would get of
= until all of us were safe. When we wer
on the St. Louis and found that not
knees and thanked God. We have beef
. splendidly treated on this ship. We hav
no clothing except what we are wearing
and that is very dirty
ClarasNityke, who came to this countr,
with her father from Russia, spoke o
the women who were rescued: "We wer
nearly all of Us sick, she said, "whel
the crash came. But we became suddenl.
we'll. Our sickness was frightened away
) When we heard some of the men sayin.
the 'spema (Jewish prayer before death
and others saying the Psalms, we though
that the end h ad come"
: The 11S steerage passengers of tho Veen
: dam were taken to the barge office. .
these 70 were detained because of lack o
visible means of support. The captain
officers and crew of the Veendam sailet
{ for Rotterdam this afternoon.
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