SULLIVAN, HOWARD W.

Scituate, Mass., June 9 (AP)—Four men of a party of six who set out at 1:30 a.m. today [June 9, 1955] on a fishing trip drowned when their 18-foot outboard motorboat capsized.

The little craft was battered by rough water as it passed over a sandbar at the mouth of the North River.

Two of the group reached shore after battling the surf in the darkness.

Drowned were:

Ernest Riggs, 35, chef at Bridgeway Inn.

James Riggs, 44, formerly of Littleton, brother of Ernest, and co-owner of the inn.

Thomas Curran, 24, Watertown safety engineer who summered here.

Howard Sullivan, [31], Littleton apple grower.

Those who survived are Edward P. O’Donnell, 26, Marshfield builder, and Joseph Vickers, 35, co-owner of the Bridgeway Inn.

The body of Ernest Riggs washed ashore. Coast Guards searched for the others.

O’Donnell said rough water flipped the Riggs brothers and Sullivan overboard first. Vickers plunged in and brought James Riggs back to the boat with the help of O’Donnell. Then a second wave swamped the boat.

Although he managed to get hold of James Riggs, O’Donnell said, the man became delirious and broke away from him.

O’Donnell swam ashore, lying exhausted at the base of Third Cliff for more than an hour before dragging himself to a house to report the tragedy. Vickers came ashore at Macomber’s Ridge in adjacent Marshfield, numbed by the cold water.

Both Vickers and James Riggs had owned an inn in Westford until recently.