Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1920-10-05
Men and WON en- Perish
AS Steam ship Founders
In Hurricane on Gulf
Passengers Take to Life
boats When SpeedweII
Sinks and Passing Vessel
Rescues Survivors


men and two women are known tt
be dead; thirteen others are missing
and the steamship Speedwell, of the
Speedwell Navigation company. is a
the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, as
q result of the hurricane that swepr
through the gulf Wednesday night
First word of the SpeedwelIs sink.
Ing was wire1essed here tonight by
the City of Mobile, a Pacific and
Orient boat, which said that it had
sight survivors aboard, and that in
the 1ifeboat from which they were
taken, three men and two women
were dead. The City of Mobile re-
ported it had sighted lifeboat with
thirteen others in it and was trying
so rescue the party.
The Speedwell was bound for New
Orleans with a cargo of mahogany
and is supposed to have foundered
In the storm. She carried a crew OF
twenty-nine. Four lifeboats put away
from the vessel, according to the SUI
~ivors, and but two have been seen
Or heard from.
Word of the wreck came to the
office of the United States hydro
sgraphic service from the steamship
Mobile City late today. The message
said:
picked up four men in life boat
OF steamship Speedwell. Another boat
adrift in near vicinity with Is, per-
sons in it. Kindly be on lookout for
boat. Three men and two women
dead. Latitude, PALS north; longitude
rs south. S4.55 west" ~
The ships captain is Charles John
son, of New Orleans.
Officials of the Speedwell company
and the Otis Manufacturing company
were unable to decide whether the
five dead were on the life boat re-
ported rescued, or in the boat adrift.
The position given is in the Gulf of
Mexico, a bit to the north of the open
passage between Cuba and that
point of Mexico which juts into the
gulf with the Port of Progreso as
its tip. It is almost directly in the
path of the hurricane which struck
the gulf coast near Morgan City last
week.
Captain L. Burmeister, of the
American steamship Saramacca,
which arrived here Thursday from
Beliz and which was in the hurricane
of last week and this week, stated
the Speedwen left Belize Saturday
about five hours ahead of the Sara
macca. 's-.
''We next sighted the Speedwe1l
last Tuesday at noon in latitude 20,
longitude $780," said Captain Bur-
meister. I'VE wirelessed her to keep
going ahead, but her wireless ap-
parently was out of order and she ap-
peared to be slowing down. We were
making for the Keys, as the hurricane
was blowing strong. Within an hour
we had lost sight of the Speedwell
and were unable to locate her again.
After that we had considerable to do
TO keep ourselves out of trouble"
One of the women reported dead is
believed to be Mrs. E. NJ. Rickerson,
Of New Orleans, Her father to-
night said he had received a letter
stating his !, daughter had arranged
to sail for here on the speedwell.
It was thought here that the mes
sage received by the photographic Of
flee from the City of Mobile was be-
ing relayed by that vessel at the re-
quest of the tank steamer Sunoil.
on which vessel the rescued persons
are believed to be.
ELEVEN OF CREW OF
THREE MARYS PICKED UP
NEW ORLEANS, Oct. 2.-Bruised
and i'll from fourteen hours spent
~elinging to wreckage during the re-
cent tropical hurricane in the Gulf
of Mexico, Captain Paul Marshall,
of Brooklyn. N. Y, and ten members
Of the crew of the American schoon-
err Three Marys, arrived here today
on the fruit steamer Lake Figart.
The Three Marys was wrecked last
Wednesday.
The Three Marys, loaded with
lumber and cotton goods sailed from
Mobile last Monday for Havana.
There was no sign of storm when
she sailed, according to Captain Mar
shall and being without wireless
there was no way TO communicate
the storm warning.
The storm was encountered We'd
nesday morning. By night the
masts had snapped off and at nine
o'clock the crew had dashed them
selves to wreckage and managed to
keep together until they were sight
ed at 3o'clock Thursday morning
by the Lake Figart. Because of
the rough water it was eight hours
One Of the seamen suffered a
hroLan lep whe nStruck by a spar.