The age-herald., 1898-03-04
THE SPEEDWELL CAPS|zES IN SQUALL Nine Out of Her Total Crew of
 Thirteen PERISH IN THE ANGRY WAVES Was Making Slow Roadway Against a
 Head Wind WHEN souALL c, ROWLING UP
 Zss Wind Caught Schooner and Blew z zs''' Side.
  fEorLF OWNED IN LIKE RATS When Sailors Took to "Dingey" They Baled Her Out For Hours With a Hat to Prevent Her From Co.,
 ing Down.

Key West, March 3-The schooner Speed, well, Capt. Collier, from Marco, Fla, for Key West, was struck by a squall today while off Marquesas, eighteen miles from here and capsized Nine persons were drowned out of thirteen on board. Among the victims were the three children of Capt. Collier, George, Tom and Wilbur, aged, re- spectively, 4. and 8, and the entire Nichols family, Bradley Nichols and his wife, their son and the latters wife and two grand children. The family was from Bridgeport, Conn.
 Those saved are: Capt. Collier. Samuel Catts and Jense Green, deck hands, and R. w. Bates of Myers, Fla, a passenger. The Nichols family is said to have been well-to-do. All had been staying for a month or two at a small hotel kept by Capt. Collier at Marco, and they were on their way home.
 Against Head Wind.
 The survivors say that the Speedwell, which was small vessel of about twenty five tons, was making slow headway this morning against head wind. About 2 o'clock Capt. Collier was at the wheel and the Nichols family and the Collier children were in the cabin asleep. Suddenly a squall came bowling up abeam. Catts and Green rushed to take in sail. As the jib Tapped loose the squall caught the schooner and blew her over on the port side. Collier, the deck hands and MT. Bates were swept into the sea, but caught the rigging just in time to save themselves. The wind, rain and waves drowned the dying cries of the imprisoned Nichols family and the Collier children.
 The men dashed themselves to the rig ging. After being there two hours the sea subsided. Then they got the dingey loose, bailed her out with hat and rowed to- ward Marquesas. After going three miles they were picked up exhausted by fish ing sleop and brought here about o'clock this evening"
 Penned in Like Rats.
 Samuel Catts, one of the survivors, said:
 Captain Collier has been sailing in these waters twenty Live years He is not to blame for this awful thing. The squall came up like nothing l have ever seen around Key West. Before we knew it we were lifted off our feet and in the water, and for the poor people down below, they were penned in like rats. The wife of the younger Nichols rose to the sky light I was clingipg to the rigging She waved her hand at me and that's the last saw of her. When we got off two hours later they were all dead.
 "The elder Nichols was the only one to get out of the cabin. l guess he was washed out, for, after young Mrs. Nichols thought was the cont of MT. Nichols float ing by. Then I saw his hand and knew it was not only his coat
 "I did not see a thing of the children or hear cry. We had to bail with hat all the time we were in the dingey and often came near being syamped."
 Soon after being brought into port, Cap- tain Collier and Jense Green went out on yacht, accompanied by a diver to try to recover the bodies. A