Name L.R. Doty Beam 41 ft (12 m) Length 89 m | Fate Sank, October 25, 1898 Depth 20 ft (6.1 m) Launched 1893 | |
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Owner Cuyahoga Transit Company, Ohio Builder F.W. Wheeler, Bay City, Michigan | ||
Ghost ships festival 2011 l r doty trailer
L.R. Doty was a Great Lakes steamship launched in May 1893 at West Bay City, Michigan. She 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.
On June 25, 2010, 111 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.
Ironically the "L.R. Doty" sister ship the "Iosco" while towing the "Olive Jeanette" both vessels were lost in September 1905 in Lake Superior.
