The Sentinel=record., 1914-04-05
BELLAVENTURE STEAMS INTO ST. JOHNS HARBoR WITH
 DEAD AND SURVIVORS,
Y HUNTERS LOST LIVES
Fifty Crippled Survivors of the Arc tic Gale Which Swept Belle Isle Strait Are Taken to Hospital, Many in Critical Condition.

St. Johns, N. F., April Amid silence like a funeral hush, the seal ing steamer Bellaventure steamed slowly up the harbor at dusk today bearing 69 of the dead and 50 of the crippled survivors of the disaster that overlook hunters from the steamer Newfoundland on the ice Hoes near Belle Isle straits in last Tuesdays blizzard.
 Thirteen of the living were re- moved to hospital in critical con dtion Several others were serious ly ill and all but one of the remain der bore sears of their 3S-hour eX- posture in the arctic gale in which 77 Ot their companions met death. This uniniured survivor was stricken blind after being picked up but it is believed he will recover his sight.
 Five thousand persons, many of them relatives of the victims, had lined every vantage point along the harbor front all day waiting for the Bellaventure' arrival and for some news of the missing sealer Southern Cross, carrying ITO men. Not a word has been heard from the latter vessel since she was seen driving be- fore the storm Tuesday morning. Hope aroused by reports that she had made harbor were dashed when investigation proved an error in identification had been made.
 There still is faith in many quar- ters that the Southern Cross, the stout steamer that Lieut.. Shackleton, the British explorer, used on one of his antarctic expeditions, would weather the storm.
 The Southern Cross is a slow ship, able to steam only five knots an hour under the best conditions, and if driven far by the gale, it is pointed out, it would take her some time to work back into communication with the rest of the fleet.
 In the absence of Governor David son and Premier Morris, the acting premier, Mir. Bennett directed the work of caring for the dead and wounded. Every physician and nurse in the city volunteered for service. They were aided by squads from the naval reserve ship Calypso and vari- ous military organizations. The new Grenfell institute was turned into morgue.
 hn xty1,f n Newfoundland hunters was unavoid- able, according to Captain Randell of the Bellaventure. Tuesday dawned somewhat overcast, but with no hint of blizzard conditions, he said, so that it was quite permissible to put men on the ice after seals. Four ships were within sight of him the Newfoundland, Stephono, Flori- gel and Bonavenutre. These had a total of thousand men on the ice. His own hunters had encountered a small body of seals soon after leav- ing the ship and were out for only an hour.
 The storm broke with typical arc tic suddenness. The hunters from the Bonaventure and the Florizel were fortunate enough to reach their ships safely. Thef Stephanos men, being near the Florizel, hurried on board her. The Stephano meanwhile steamed toward the spot where her crew had been seen before the snow shut in. This took her away from the Newfoundland group, who were far from their own. She headed back into the storm to pick up the Newfoundland hunters.
 It was impossible to see a ship length ahead into the snow curtain, and when the Stephanos captain thought he was within a mile of the stranded hunters he lay to, and kept his whistle going in the hope that they might be guided toward him. As hours passed and not man re- ported he concluded all had reached l their own ships. But the Newfound- land had no wireless and all that day and Wednesday while the bliz- gard ragged with unabated fury, the fleet remained in ignorance of the fate of the 150 men marooned on the | floes.
 | Thursday the weather cleared and i the Belleyenture was making ready to start her men after seals again
 when a lookout in the crows nest reported men on the ice, Captain I Randell immediately ordered every