Captain F. A. Dority

Captain F. A. Dority master of the steamer F. and P. M. No. 3, belonging to the F. & P. M. R. R. Co., his home being in Milwaukee, Wis., is a native of New York State, having been born February 6, 1861, at Hammond, St. Lawrence county.

Capt. Thomas Dority, father of our subject, was of the same nativity, born in 1826, of Irish descent. He was employed on the Welland canal vessels sailing out of Oswego, N. Y., was with Morgan Wheeler for several years, on the schooner Cheeny Ames, and on the Finns, of Chicago, his last vessel being the schooner Oliver Mitchell. He was a lake captain for many years, and one of the most successful.

Our subject received a common-school education in his native town, laying aside his books at about the age of sixteen, and as he has been a keen observer of men and things generally he is one of the most intelligent, judicious and able of the younger captains on the Great Lakes. He began sailing in 1876, when in his sixteenth year, going on the steamer Cheeny Ames with his father, and remaining on the vessel four years, at first in the capacity of mess-boy, later going before the mast. He then went with Captain Duddleson on the T. W. Palmer (now the Samoa) as second mate, one and one-half seasons; from the Palmer he shipped, season of 1880, on the Lem Ellsworth, under his father as captain. During the seasons of 1881-82 he was again with Captain Duddleson on the Palmer, as second mate, and next year he went on the schooner Reuben Bond. He then shipped on the steamer Oscar Townsend (Captain William Humphrey) as second mate, for balance of the season of 1883. In the fall of that year he went on Lake Michigan in the employ of the F. and P. M. No. 2, under Captain Duddleson, for two seasons, then went to the Goodrich line with Captain Rossman, as first mate of the Menominee, one and one-half seasons. The Roanoke was his next vessel, and with her he remained until 1889, also as first mate running in connection with F. and P. M. line in winter, and on Lake Superior in summer. During the time he was with the Goodrich Transportation Company he was on the Roanoke in the winter time. In the spring of 1889 he was made master of the schooner Osceola in connection with the F. & P. M. line in winter, and running up Lake Superior in the summers. After one season on the Osceola as master, he went on the Colorado, belonging to the same line, and was master of her two seasons. In 1892 he was appointed captain of the Ann Arbor No. 2, car ferry between Frankfort and Keewanee, and was captain thereof during 1892-93-94; then returned to the F. & P. M. No. 5, remaining with her until July, 1895, at which time he identified himself with the United States-Ontario Navigation Company and brought out Shenango No. 1 and 2, after about two months running the Shenango No. 2 until the spring of 1897. He was then appointed master of the Perre Marquette, and captained her until April 15, 1897, when, at his own request, he transferred to the F. & P. M. No. 3, of which vessel he has since been master. He has brought out some of the car ferries of the Great Lakes, and sailed them all.

The Captain has been very successful in his experience as a mariner, has worked himself up by industry and indefatigable energy, and is fully recognized as one of the most successful self-made captains on the Great Lakes. Socially he is a member of the Excelsior Benevolent Association of Milwaukee, of the F. & P. M., of the K. of P. and of the K. O. T. M. He married Miss Maud E. Lee, of Frankfort, Michigan.

Return to Home Port

Volume I

This version of Volume II is based, with permission, on the work of the great volunteers at the Marine Captains Biographies site. To them goes the credit for reorganizing the content into some coherent order. The biographies in the original volume are in essentially random order.

Some of the transcription work was also done by Brendon Baillod, who maintains an excellent guide to Great Lakes Shipwreck Research.