Doc De Milly

The 287-foot steel freighter was completed as the refrigerated freighter Domburgh in August 1949 at the Werfde Noord N.V. shipyard in Alblasserdam, Netherlands. At its launch, the Domburgh measured 253.5 feet in length and 40 feet in width. Originally, it was used to transport fruit and passengers from Northern Africa to Rotterdam. In 1968, the hull was lengthened to 287 feet. In 1973, the ship was sold to Caribbean owners who renamed it Forwarder. She was later renamed “Nuevo Rio” and sailed under the Honduran flag. Saltwater damage led to the confiscation of the ship by the Narcotics Division of the Miami Police Department and the U.S. Coast Guard. The vessel was laid up in the Miami River and later cleaned before being intentionally sunk by the Department of Environmental Resource Management (DERM), south of Miami near Pacific Reef Lighthouse. At the time of sinking, the ship was renamed “Doc DeMille” by “Fish and Game Unlimited,”who helped fund the project, in memory of beloved Homestead veterinarian John DeMilly Jr., who tragically lost his life in October 1985, just hours before his 73rd birthday. Air Force F-4D Phantom bombers from the 93rd Tactical Fighter Squadron at Homestead Air Force Base used the ship for target practice, dropping concrete-filled bombs. The Dade County Metro Bomb Squad also rigged 200 pounds of explosives to the ship. Despite over two-thirds of the practice bombs missing their mark, the ship eventually sank stern first, with its bow rising high out of the water before slipping beneath the waves.