New Britain herald., 1927-10-28
SURVIVORS TELL
 NARROWING TALES
Wreck Of Maialda Awful Trag- eQy--TellS Of Captains Bravery

| Bahia, Brazil, Oct. 2S.-(P}-Huge
 fierce sharks chasing terrified swim
 mers in the water about the sinking
 liner Principessa Mafalda, the weird scene thrown into ghastly relief by searchlights of rescuing vessels is the
 picture of the disaster off the Bra zlllan coast given today by John
 Lyra Chaves, a first class passenger
 aboard the line Mosella which
 brought half a hundred survivors l here.
 Although other survivors have i said they did not see any sharks, ! Chaves declared the sharks dashing out of the darkness into the circles of light made a profound impression upon him.
 i Chaves and others gave great credit to a steward of the Mosella for his rescue work. Chaves said this steward saved the life of one man climbing into a boat he manned . alone throughout the terrible night by throwing the beam of flash light into the eyes of a pursuing shark. The Mosella's passengers hailed this steward as hero, saying he gave preference to women and children and delivered them aboard the nearest rescue vessels without taking the time to return to his own ship.
 A nerve-racking noise of grinding, ? cr1CEinP iron oha Mafalda shortly before 1t sank &C., cording to Chaves. He believed these sounds came from lifeboats breaking up as they were filled with victims, 1 He declared that most of those struggling in the water were scantily dressed. Romeu Pellin. q musician in the 1 Mafalda's orchestra said that in the late afternoon while the orchestra was playing and passengers dancing a cracking noise was heard in the ships bowels and the Matilda stop ped. The captain, according to Pellin, calmed the passengers by telling them the propeller shaft had broken and was being repaired and that the accident was not serious. The care , tree Joy, was restored, Pellin stated, untll the ship suddenly listed at the stern.
 The captain and his officers again restored temporary calm by issuing rescue orders but the ship listed dangerously. according to Pellin, and a panic developed quickly. There was great deal of confusion, he said, 1 with the passengers wailng and cry Ing. There was no time to distribute life belts or to lower the life boats. | T let myself down into the sea bv q rope,' declared Pellin. T lost consciousness and woke aboard the ! Mosella. l saw the Mafalda disappear about nine o'clock. approximately ] four hours after the first alarm"
 The story of the sinking as told by catalao Carmine, one of the 1 crew, was as follows:
 - was going about my usual duty on board and the ships orchestra | was playing that mad mans dance Black Bottom" when something 1n- comprehensibile, so it seemed to me | at the moment, happened aft of the | Mafalda. The screwshaft had broken or parted.
 From then onwards everything was confusion, tumult and heart | rending scenes. As is usual in disas- ters with women and children . aboard, I with my companions did | all that we could to get them 10 their boat stations. This was a titanic task due to the confusion and ex- plosion;
 T calculate that the boats were ready for launching within fifteen minutes in spite of the panic on board among the poor passengers. Nothing would calm the passengers during the first minutes after the accident as all seemed possessed of a thousand devils to escape from the vessel in any way possible and I could do nothing else but hand out lifehelts and help the hysterical wo- men to the boats as the ship was sinking fast.
 Cries, screams and groans were heard from all directions. To think, senor, that only a few minutes be- fore the band had been playing and everybody was happy. IL was almost impossible to believe that such a tragedy could occur. What con- trast."
 So overcome was Carmine by the memory of what took place that he broke into tears. apologizing for his weeping.
 "The captains orders at first could not be understood, there was such turmoil" another survivor said taking up the thread of the story. "An explosion followed the invasion of water and although nearly all the lifeboats were gotten into the sea they did not live very long. They soon turned over throwing their human cargoes into the cold deep ocean and I believe that only one remained afloat which was hauled on board the Moselle.
 "I saw th> captain on the bridge "lll tIl tlttiIlC tOlCu III lllS JldilI making little circle of light onto the struggling masses in the water until the ship sank under the waves when I saw him waving his arms as if in farewell and shouting what I believe was Viva Italia""
 T do not think that he wanted to be saved. but to go to rest with his ship. A brave man, oiir captain.
 "Bodies and limbs floated by us in the water which was greWsome in the dark night and I shall never forget the scene when being put aboard the Moselle to see so many companions who only a short time before were alive and strong now floating dead"
 The survivors who arrived here yesterday on the Moselle have been lodged in one of the best hotels here