SS L.R. Doty

History
United States
Name	L.R. Doty
Namesake	Lucius Ramsey Doty
Owner	Cuyahoga Transit Company, Ohio
Builder	F.W. Wheeler, Bay City, Michigan
Launched	1893
Fate	Sank, October 25, 1898
General characteristics [1]
Length	312 ft (95 m) LOA 291 ft (89 m) LBP
Beam	41 ft (12 m)
Depth	20 ft (6.1 m)
Propulsion	3-cylinder triple expansion steam engine 1,000 hp (746 kW) Single shaft
Crew	17

L.R. Doty was a Great Lakes steamship launched in May 1893 at West Bay City, Michigan. It was last seen afloat October 25, 1898 north of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, during a violent storm on Lake Michigan, with winds reaching 70 miles per hour (110 km/h). The ship was witnessed foundering at the stern by a passenger of the four-masted schooner Olive Jeanette which was being towed by the Doty until the tow line broke from the force of the storm. Seventeen crew members died.^[2]

On June 25, 2010, 112 years after her loss, divers found the Doty 300 feet (91 m) below the surface of Lake Michigan with its cargo of corn still intact. The first divers to reach and film the Doty were Tracy Xelowski, John Scoles and John Janzen.^[2][3][4]

Coincidentally, seven years later on September 30, 1905, the L.R. Doty's sister ship the Iosco also sank while towing the Olive Jeanette. However, on this occasion both vessels were lost to the waters of Lake Superior.^[5]

Olive Jeanette (in 1890)

The Storm in the Milwaukee Sentinel on October 26, 1898

References

1. Biondich, Sarah (July 14, 2010). "Finding a Century-Old Shipwreck". ExpressMilwaukee. Archived from the original on 4 August 2010. Retrieved 30 June 2012.
2. "Steamship shipwreck found in Lake Mich. after 112 years". Detroit News. Milwaukee. Associated Press. June 25, 2010. Retrieved July 2, 2010. ^{[dead link]}
3. Ramde, Dinesh (2010-06-24). "L.R. Doty, ship that sank in Lake Michigan 112 years ago, found largely intact near Milwaukee". Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota, Star Tribune. Associated Press. Archived from the original on June 27, 2010. Retrieved 2010-07-02.
4. Holewa, Lisa (June 25, 2010). "Shipwreck Found After 112 years in Lake Michigan". Milwaukee: AolNews. Archived from the original on September 23, 2010. Retrieved July 2, 2010.
5. Maritime History of the Great Lakes website retrieved November 26, 2016

External links

• "Photo of the L.R. Doty at dock". shipwreckworld.com.
• "L.R. Doty Shipwreck Discovery". ship-wreck.com. Archived from the original on 2011-07-24. Retrieved 2010-06-25.

42°33′40″N 87°20′12″W