| SS Commodore | |
|---|---|
 SS Commodore at dock | |
| Career | |
| Launched: | 1882 |
| Fate: | Wrecked 1897 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage: | 178 tons |
| Length: | 122.5 ft (37.3 m) |
| Beam: | 21 ft (6.4 m) |
| Draft: | 9 ft (2.7 m) |
| Installed power: | Coal-fired |
SS Commodore was an American steamboat that shipwrecked off the coast of Florida on 2 January 1897, while en route to Cuba. The event was immortalized when passenger and author Stephen Crane, who was traveling as a war correspondent for the Bacheller-Johnson syndicate, wrote the classic short story "The Open Boat" about his experience. Crane and three other men, including the ship's captain, Edward Murphy, were stranded in a 10-foot (3.0 m) dinghy for nearly thirty hours near the Mosquito Inlet Lighthouse (today's Ponce de Leon Inlet Light) before they were able to reach shore; all but one of the men survived.
References[]
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Davis, Linda H. (1998). Badge of Courage: The Life of Stephan Crane. New York: Mifflin. ISBN 0-89919-934-8.
- McCarthy, Kevin M.; Trotter, William L. (1992). "Commodore, 1897". Thirty Florida Shipwrecks. Pineapple Press Inc. p. 77. ISBN 1-56164-007-7. http://books.google.com/books?id=tu4kXhKxKw4C&pg=PA77.
External links[]
- "The Shipwreck, Discovery, and Investigation of the SS Commodore". http://www.staugustinelighthouse.org/LAMP/Research/SS_Commodore.
- Eslinger, Kimberly Lane (2005). "And All the Men Knew the Colors of the Sea... : Historical and Archaeological Investigation of the SS Commodore's Remains, Ponce Inlet, Florida". East Carolina University. http://thescholarship.ecu.edu/handle/10342/1113.
Coordinates: 29°12.23′N 80°46.44′W / 29.20383°N 80.774°W
The original article can be found at SS Commodore and the edit history here.