28                              Reminiscences of
the wharf. On the way we saw a gentleman kissing
his family good-bye. His eyes were moistened. He
had never been seen so affected. When we arrived at
the wharf we heard a man saying: "that steamer will
never reach New Orleans." Others said: "the wind
will subside about sundown."
The Captain was advised to stay in port for a day
or two, for the weather was very threatening. He ans-
wered, that he could not delay his departure, having on
board 200 head of cattle. We again asked the Father
not to proceed, but he said. "I must go, my fare going
and returning is free. It is a God-send, our mission is
so poor!    To-morrow we shall reach the Mississippi."
But the next day poor Father Verdet reached eter-
nity, and with him all the passengers and crew, except
one, a negro, who remained nine days at the mercy of
the waves, floating on a door. He related the catastro-
phe as follows :
"A violent gale struck the steamer on the starboard
side, just as she was changing her course to make for
land and caused her to capsize. I saw Father Verdet
and the Captain, who were clinging to an overturned
boat, swept into the sea by a blast of wind."
He also said that shortly before the wreck, he saw
Father Verdet baptizing the Captain and his son, Ed-
ward. Poor boy! he had been prepared by me to be
received into the Church and was to be baptized on his
return from his vacation. How glad he was when
starting to visit his mother in New Orleans. The ne-
gro had suffered terribly for the want of sleep and
nourishment. He had kept himself alive by sucking
sea-weed. He was rescued just in the nick of time, for
then he was almost completely exhausted. It .was the
opinion at the time that the wreck had happened about
fifteen miles from land opposite  Dernière Isle, a place