Worcester morning daily spy., 1898-03-04
NINE DROWNED.
A Bridgeport Family Perished
Near Key West.
CAUGHT BY A SQUALL.
Schooner on Which They Were
Sailing Capsized.
The Passengers Were Sound Asleep in
the CABIN and Had No Chance
for Their Lives.
CAUGHT BY A sQUALL.

Key West, Fla, March S-The
schooner Speedwell, Capt. Collier, from
Marco, Fla, for Key West, was struck
by a squall today while off Marquesas,
Is miles from here, and capsized-
Nine persons were drowned out OF 13
all told on board. Among the victims
were the three children of Captain Col
lier, George, Tom and WILDER, aged re-
spectively 4, and 8, and the entire
Nichols family, Mr.. Bradley Nichols
and his wife, their son, and his wife,
and two grandchildren.
The family was from Bridgeport,
Conn. Those saved are Capt. Collier,
Samuel Gates and Jesse Green, deck
hands, and R. w. Bates of Myers, Fla,
passenger.
All the passengers had been staying
for month or two at small hotel
kept by Capt. Collier at Marco, and
they were on their way home.
The survivors say the Speedwell,
which was a small vessel of about 25
tons, was making slow headway this
morning against a headwind. About Z
o clock Capt. Collier was at the wheel,
and the Nichols family and the Collier
children were in the cabin asleep. Sud-
denly squall came bowling up abeam.
Gates and Green rushed to take in sail.
AS the jib tapped loose, the squall
caught the schooner and blew her clean
over on the port side.
Collier, the deck hands and Mr.. Bates
were swept into the sea, but caught the
rigging just in time to save themselves.
The wind, rain and surges drowned the
dying cries of the imprisoned Nichols
family and the Collier children.
The men lashed themselves to the rig
ging. After being there for TWO hours
the sea subsided. Then they got the
dingy loose, baled her out with hat,
broke thwart in two pieces, and with
these for oars, rowed toward Marque-
sas.
After going three miles they were
picked up exhausted by fishing sloop
and brought here about 4 o'clock this
afternoon.
Samuel Gates, one of the survivors,
who was seen at his home here this eve
ming, said: Captain Collier has been
sailing now for 25 years in these waters.
He is not to blame for this awful thing.
THE squall came in a manner that
l have never seen around Key West.
Before we knew it, we were lifted off
our feet and in the water; and as for
those poor people down below, they
were penned In like rats. The wife of
the younger Nichols, as pretty a wo-
man as ever stepped aboard a ship, rose
to the skyIight was clinging to the
rigging. She waved her hand at me,
and that is the last I saw Of her. When
we got off two hours later, they were
all dead.
''Old Mr.. Nichols was the only one to
get out of the cabin. / guess he was
washed out; for. after young Mrs. Mich
obs waved her hand at me, l saw what
1 thought was the coat of old Mr.. Mich
oils floating by. Then 1 saw his hand,
and knew it was rot merely coat.
1--WE did not see thing of the chill
dren or hear a cry. We had to bale
with the hat all the time we were in
the dingy, and came very near being
swamped -
Soon after being brought into port,
Capt. Collier and Jesse Green went out
on the yacht Buccaneer, accompanied
by diver, to try to recover the bodies.