Captain Dorin Elliott

Captain Dorin Elliott, whose long and varied experience in large raft-towing tugs, had made him one of the most prominent captains on the lakes in the handling of enormous rafts, is still a comparatively young man, having been born August 28, 1863, at Port Burwell, Ontario, a son of John and Amanda (Matthews) Elliott. His father was master and owner of several vessels, among which were the Canadian schooners Burlington and J. B. Skinner, fine boats in their day. He retired from active life on shipboard in 1860, and ten years later removed with his family to the United States, locating in Augres, Mich., where he died in the year 1891. His other sons are, Frank, who is master of the steamer John Spry, of Chicago, and David, master of the tug Robert Emmet, owned by Captain Boutell, of Bay City. The mother is still living in Augres.

After acquiring a public-school education in Augres, Capt. Dorin Elliott shipped as watchman on the tug Waldo Avery, closing the season in her as wheelsman, which berth he held until the fall of 1880. The next season he entered the employ of Mitchell & Boutell as mate on the tug Annie Moiles two seasons. In the spring of 1885 he shipped as watchman and wheelsman in the tug Music, followed by a season in the steamer Burlington in the same capacity. In the spring of 1888 he again entered the employ of Captain Boutell as master of the Annie Moiles, remaining in her two seasons. He then sailed the tug Acme, formerly the Music, for the Michigan Log Towing Company, until October 14, 1893, when she foundered about twenty-five miles from Thunder Bay, Lake Huron, this being the same day that the Wocoken and the Dean Richmond and several other schooners went down, involving great loss of life. It was thought that the loss of the Acme was occasioned by the breaking of the feed pipe; she was attached to a 5,000,000-feet raft. The crew were rescued by the Canadian tug Reliance. In 1894 he shipped as mate of the steamer Minnie E. Kelton, owned by Capt. P. C. Smith, of Bay City, and the next season he was transferred to the lake tug Peter Smith, as master. In the spring of 1896 Captain Elliott was appointed master of the steamer Germania, and the next season master of the steamer Robert Holland. In the spring of 1898 he was assigned to the command of the large lake steamtug Boscobel, the flag-ship of Boutell & Smith's fine fleet.

Socially, he is a Master Mason of Winona Lodge No. 256, West Bay City, Mich., and a member of the Independent Order of Foresters.

On December 7, 1892, Captain Dorin Elliot[sic] was wedded to Miss May, daughter of George White, of West Bay City, Mich., to which union one daughter, Gertrude, has been born. The family homestead is at No. 406 South Henry street, West Bay City, Michigan.

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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.