We fought the flames and suffocating smoke until 11:30 A.M. By that time, we could hardly stand on the decks they were so hot. The fire was out of control. We had left it too late to save our own personal effects. She was my ship and I didn't want to lose her without a fight. I felt like crying when I ordered the crew to abandon ship.

The only thing we had time to do was pull the compass out of the binnacle, and this was the one thing that saved us. It was a fine day and we began to row in the direction where I hoped to pick up the Scaterie light. We used the compass until darkness fell and then we steered by the stars, but then the weather got dirty and we had rain, sleet, fog, and a bone chilling wind.

We didn't have the time to grab our heavy overcoats and we were getting pretty sore, cold, and tired from a long time at the oars. The weather had shut out the stars and, about this time, we began to wonder whether we could have made a miscalculation. But just then, through the sleet and fog, came the glimmer of the Scaterie light. We hit it right on the nose.

We rowed toward the shore but realized the rough sea made it impossible for a safe landing, so we skirted Scaterie and made for a more sheltered mainland landing place. We finally touched shore at Main-a-Dieu.