P. H. Doyle

P.H. Doyle may be considered one of the most competent of engineers on board ship and an efficient and skillful mechanic in his line. He has the entire confidence of his employers, and may always be found in charge of the machinery of the better class of steamers. Mr. Doyle was born in County Carlow, Ireland, November 11, 1845, and came with his parents to the United States in 1849, the family settling at Rockport, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio. He is a son of Daniel and Anastasia Doyle, the former of whom was a blacksmith by occupation and up to his fifteenth year Patrick spent his time working with his father in the shop and in attendance at the common schools of Rockport. The father then bought a farm in Middlebury township, to which the family removed.

A few years afterward Mr. Doyle went to Fort Wayne, Ind., where he learned the machinist's trade, serving three years in the shops of the Wabash Railway Company. In 1867 he came to Cleveland and took out an engineer's license, which was granted by S.R. De Forest, local inspector at that port. He was appointed engineer of the harbor tug Belle King, finishing the season on the H.P. Smith, engaged in towing on the Saginaw river, and was next given the position of engineer on the tug Relief, engaged in raft towing between Au Sable, Tawas, Mich., and Tonawanda, N.Y., remaining in that employ three years, until the fall of 1870. The following year, he engineered the steamer Lake Breeze, plying on the mail route between Marquette, Houghton and Hancock, Mich. During the season of 1872 he entered the employ of the Northern Transportation line as engineer of the Granite State, and was transferred to the steamer Maine the following season. For the next three seasons he engaged with Ballentine & Co., of Bay City, as engineer of the steambarge Antelope, which carried timber and towed barges to Lake Erie ports, transferring in 1877 to the steamer Elmira, of Bay City, which was engaged in the same line of business. In 1879, the Antelope having been sold to W.T. Baker and Co., he returned to her and served two years for that firm. Subsequently for part of a season, he took charge of the machinery of the tug Goodnow, towing between Lakes Erie and Huron, finishing in the steam barge Luella Worthington.

In 1881 Mr. Doyle entered the Alva Bradley employ, and fitted out the steamer Chamberlain, but before sailing he was transferred to the steamer Henry Chisholm, in which he remained three seasons. He then served in other steamers of that fleet, two seasons on the City of Cleveland and one season on the Maurice B. Grover. In the spring of 1888 he embarked in business for himself, engaging in steam-fitting and dealing in engineers' supplies on Main street, near Center, in Cleveland, Ohio. The following season he brought out the steel steamer North Star, of the Northern Steamship Company's line, which, on June 26, sank the C.J. Sheffield in a dense fog. In 1890 he brought out new the Nimick, built to the order of the American Transportation Company, of Fairport, Ohio, with whom he remained three years. In 1894 he entered the employ of M.A. Bradley as engineer of the steamer Henry Chisholm, serving one season on her and the following season on the Hesper, which he laid up at Sandusky at the close of navigation.

In 1878 Mr. Doyle was united in marriage to Miss Maria Kennelly, of Rocky River, and five children have been born to them: Frank D. (who was a student at the Edmiston Business College), James H., Agnes B., Eugene B. and Gertrude A. Doyle.

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.