SS Commodore

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 ft 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.