Storm Survivors Reach the City Submitted By Larie Tedesco May 2007 Daily Picayune 10-07-1893; pg. 6; Issue 256; col C ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ************************************************ Sailors Who Have Weathered Many Gales and Dangers Nearly Succumb to the Elements Last Sunday. Arrivals at the New Canal and the Old Basin Bring More Thrilling Tales of the Horrors Which Beset the Men Who Ride the Seas. While the luggers along the river front have brought news of wreck and ruin by the storm, the peaceful waters of the New basin and the Old basin have been ruffled only by the dingy charcoal boats and a few others. The Picayune reporter visited the canals yesterday and learned that at the New basin canal the only schooner which had come in and not already been reported by the Picayune was the Chasseur, owned by Captain Meloche, of which Captain Nourse is the commander. On Sunday, when the storm struct the Chasseur, she was off Pass Christian, between that place and CatIsland. She dragged her anchors fifteen miles across Cat island pass to Grand pass. Her centerboard, rudder and rigging were lost, and she was damaged to the extent of about $150. Captain Meloche stated that the boat was remarkably fortunate to escape when others were wrecked all around her. The crew consisted of four white men, and when the storm struck they had everything ready for it. The schooner Union was seen when the storm began, but on Monday morning it was no longer in site. It is now known that it was lost and drifted into the gulf. The Chassuer is now at West End. Captain Meloche also said that the schooner Maude, which has already been reported lost, was driven into the marsh about a block distant from the water at Wolf river. She is badly wrecked, and the loss will be about $350.00. The statement that the crew had been lost was a mistake, as all of those on board were saved. The steamer Sarah, of Logtown, left for New basin yesterday afternoon for Pass Christian, carrying freight and passengers. At the Old basin canal yesterday afternoon the little lugger Ida and Julia, Captain John Latich, arrived bringing several persons who had been picked up from the wrecks. Leving Martin Island Thursday, the Ida and Julia came across an unknown boat from Biloxi. Two of the crew of five were clinging to the bottom of the overturned boat. The others were lost. Continueing, the lugger found the Young America, of Biloxi, capsized off Clinton, and learned that the crew of three was lost. About 100 feet from the Young America was the wreck of the sloop Goesana. Captain Mertel and his son were lost, and the sloop was ruined. The sloop Bertie was capsized in Grand Pass, and the captain and one sailor were saved and two sailors were drowned. The Santa Maria was also lost in Grand pass. Captain Schumann was saved, but the two sailors were lost. Lugger Sunnyside was also lost, but Captain Mertel, a brother of the captain of the Goesana, was saved. Two sailors were drowned. The shrimp boat Corinne, of Biloxi, was losg, but the crew was saved. The crew of the Rosalia, consisting of four men, was lost in sight of Bush Island. Schooner Jambon was capsized between the lake and bayou Johnson, and the crew of three men drowned, and the sloop Y. Godelida, an oyster boat, lost its captain but saved the two sailors. The lugger Innocente met the same fate and lost her captain, but the sailor was saved. The names of most of the men lost were unknown to the captain of the Ida and Julia. Captain Mertel, of the Sunnyside, and two sailors were brought to this city. The captain stated that they were eight hours in the water and expected to die every moment. The waves struck him so hard that blood flowed from his ears and nose. Two men of the lugger St. George were brought to the city. The lugger was completely wrecked. The Ida and Julia lost her skiff and anchor. She saved in all fourteen men. Some of them were left at Biloxi, but six were brought here. The reporter had an interview with Frank Gory, one of the men saved. He stated that he had been a sailor over twenty years and never saw a storm so sudden or severe at that of Sunday. He could scarcely conceive that a squail could reach such proportions or do so much damage. The water rained 10 feet in about eight hours. The Ida and Julia found only one dead body, that of a small girl, which the crew buried at Cheniere. At Two point, near Grand pass, four fishermen's huts were lost, but they learned nothing of the occupants. The boat's crew was furnished with food on the way and got here at about 12:30 yesterday. About sixty barrels of oysters were on board the Ida and Julia and she lost all but twenty, a net loss of $200, which is considerable for a small fisherman. The rescued parties were found in skiffs or on top of their boats. Most of them were nearly naked. Mr. Gory said that one of the extraordinary things about the trip to the city was that no sharks could be seen near any of the boats, which from his experience was very unusual.