A Loire Steamer Capsizes A pitiful fate overtook a large
party of workmen and their families, who went down the Loire on Sunday from Nantes to the island of Noirmoutier, on the south of the broad estuary. Their little excursion steamer, the ' St. Philibert,' had low bulwarks and a high saloon deck running the whole length of the vessel. The sea on the outward passage was choppy, and a hundred or so of the passengers therefore decided to return home by train from Noirmoutier. When the ' St. Philibert ' set out for home the wind got up from the West, and the vessel began to roll and ship seas. The passengers crowded to the lee side and thus accentuated the rolling. As the steamer was rounding -the Pointe de St. Gildas, beyond which she would have had wind and sea astern, a heavy wave struck her and caused her to capsize. In a few moments she had disappeared. Only eight men were saved by boats which put out quickly. The death roll of men, women and children, including many whole families, came to 342. Older readers will recall the tragedy, similar in nature though dissimilar in circumstances, of the ' Princess Alice ' off Blackwall.
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