Carriage returns = 13
Line Feeds = 10    (\n)
Tabs = 9

(and other ascii codes..)  Once you know the code, getting them from the database is easy. 
There is a function chr() that will take the ascii code and return the character.  So, if you:

myString := 'Some Text' || chr(10) || 'Some more Text....';

that'll build a string that has a newline (line feed) in it.

other example ::  replace(S.RETURNDES,  chr(10) ,'<br>')