42°11′00″N87°39′00″W / 42.18333°N 87.65000°W /42.18333; -87.65000
 Lady Elgin at dock, September 7, 1860 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
.svg) United States | |
| Name | Lady Elgin |
| Operator | Gurdon Saltonstall Hubbard |
| Builder |
|
| Completed | 1851 |
| Fate | Sunk in collision with schoonerAugusta of Oswego September 8, 1860 |
| Notes | First enrollment issued at Buffalo, New York November 5, 1851 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Sidewheel steamer - passengers and package freight |
| Tonnage | 1037.70 gross[1] |
| Length | 252 ft (77 m)[1] |
| Beam | 32.66 ft (9.95 m)[1] |
| Height | 13 ft (4.0 m)[1] |
| Notes | Wood hull vessel |
PSLady Elgin was a wooden-hulledsidewheelsteamship that sank inLake Michigan off the fledgling town of Port Clinton, Illinois, whose geography is now divided betweenHighland Park andHighwood, Illinois, after she was rammed in a gale by theschoonerAugusta in the early hours of September 8, 1860. The passenger manifest was lost with the collision, but the sinking ofLady Elgin resulted in the loss of about 300 lives[2] in what was called "one of the greatest marine horrors on record". Four years after the disaster, a new rule required sailing vessels to carry running lights. TheLady Elgin disaster remains the greatest loss of life on open water in the history of the Great Lakes.[3]
In 1994, a process began to list the shipwreck on theNational Register of Historic Places. After it was determined to be eligible for listing in 1999, the process ended after an objection by the owner, so the shipwreck is not listed on the Register.[4]
Lady Elgin was built in 1851 in Buffalo, New York, at a cost of $95,000.[a] She was named after the wife ofLord Elgin, Canada's Governor General from 1847 to 1854.[6] During her time, the wooden-hulledsidewheeler was one of the most elegantly appointed passenger ships plying theGreat Lakes. Rated a first-classsteamer, she was a favorite with the traveling public. Early in her career she ran betweenBuffalo and Chicago, then later between Chicago andCollingwood, Ontario. For many of her later seasons, she plied the route between Chicago and other Lake Michigan ports andLake Superior.[7]
DuringLady Elgin's career she was involved in numerous accidents. She sank and was repaired in 1854 after striking a rock atManitowoc, Wisconsin. In 1855, she was towed to Chicago after an accident to her machinery. In 1857, she was damaged by fire. In June 1858, she struck a reef atCopper Harbor, Michigan. In August 1858, she was stranded onAu Sable Point Reef in Lake Superior. In October 1859, she was towed toMarquette, Michigan after breaking hercrossbeam. In November 1859, she was towed again when hercrank pin broke nearPoint Iroquois, Michigan.[8] Her final blow came in 1860 when she was rammed by the woodenschoonerAugusta ten miles from shore. In 1899, Great Lakes historian J.B. Mansfield calledLady Elgin's sinking "one of the greatest marine horrors on record".[7]
On the morning of September 6, 1860Lady Elgin leftMilwaukee,Wisconsin, from the Dooley, Martin, Dousman, and Company Dock, for Chicago, carrying members of Milwaukee's Union Guard to hear a campaign speech byStephen A. Douglas,Abraham Lincoln's opponent, although there is no clear historical evidence that Douglas actually appeared. The passengers spent the day of September 7 listening to political speeches followed by an evening of entertainment by a German brass band on boardLady Elgin.[6] On the return trip to Milwaukee that night, the brightly litLady of Elgin was steaming throughLake Michigan againstgale force winds when she was rammed by the schoonerAugusta of Oswego.Augusta was sailing using only a single white light, mounted on a five-foot Samson[clarification needed] on the bow, and did not attempt, or was unable, to turn to avoid the collision in the gale.[9] On the morning of the collision (September 8) at 2:30 am,Augusta rammed the port side ofLady Elgin, damaging her own bowsprit and headgear, while holing the latter ship below the waterline.[9]
Concerned that she was damaged and believingLady Elgin had gotten safely away,Augusta made for Chicago. AboardLady Elgin, Captain Wilson ordered that cattle and cargo be thrown overboard to lighten the load and raise the gaping hole inLady Elgin'sport side above water level while thesteward was down in the coal bunker trying to stop the leak with mattresses.[7][10] Captain Wilson ordered alifeboat lowered on thestarboard side to check the extent of the damage but it never regained the steamer. Within twenty minutes,Lady Elgin broke apart, and all but thebow section rapidly sank. The night was lit up at intervals by flashes of lightning showing the scattered wreckage.[7]
Thelife preservers, 2 in (5.1 cm) hardwood planks, 5 ft (1.5 m) long and 18 in (46 cm) wide, were never used.[6] Two boats with a total of 18 people reached shore. In addition, fourteen people were saved on a large raft and many others on parts of the wreckage. Over 300 people died and 98 were saved.[7] The drummer of the German band, Charles Beverung, saved himself by using his largebass drum as a life preserver.[6] Survivors reported the heroic efforts of Captain Wilson to save about 300 people collected on a raft.[7] When day broke, between 350 and 400 passengers and crew were drifting in stormy waters, holding on to anything they could, many only to be pulled under by breakers near shore.
Students fromNorthwestern University andGarrett Biblical Institute were watching the shore on the morning of September 8, looking for survivors. One student, Edward Spencer, is credited with rescuing 17 passengers over the course of six hours. He sustained injuries during his rescue efforts that left him an invalid for the rest of his life. A plaque in his honor was first placed in the Northwestern University Gymnasium, and is now housed in the Northwestern University Library.[11]
About 300 people died in the sinking,[2] including Captain Wilson, who was lost trying to save two women when he was caught by the surf and forced into the rocks.[11] Most were from Milwaukee, with the majority of those being from the Irish communities, including nearly all of Milwaukee's Irish Union Guard.[12] So many Irish-American political operatives died that day that the disaster has been credited with transferring the balance of political power in Milwaukee "from the Irish to the Germans".[13] It is said that more than 1000 children were orphaned by the tragedy; however, research shows that fewer than 40 children were orphaned.[14][page needed] TheLady Elgin disaster remains the greatest loss of life on open water in the history of the Great Lakes.[3]
Among the 300 victims wasHerbert Ingram, the founder and owner of theIllustrated London News and a member of Parliament, who with his son, were the only foreigners on the ship. Ingram was the most wealthy and prominent individual to perish on a shipwreck in the Great Lakes.[15]
A Wisconsin historical marker in thehistoric third ward in Milwaukee commemorates the tragedy.Calvary Cemetery in Milwaukee has a monument dedicated to theLady Elgin disaster and the many lost in the tragedy who are buried there.
A statue of Herbert Ingram, politician and owner of theIllustrated London News, the Lady Elgin's most notable victim, stands in the city center in Boston, Lincolnshire, England, since erected in 1862. The monument honours Boston-born, three-term member of Parliament, who helped bring fresh water, education, and the railroad to the city.[15]
SongwriterHenry Clay Work wrote the memorial song "Lost on the 'Lady Elgin'"[16] in 1861.[17] For many years in central Canada this song was sung at family gatherings and social occasions.[6]
In 2009, the Milwaukee Irish Heritage and Cultural Center launched a $200,000[b] fundraising campaign for a mammoth, two-story bronze memorial statue for theLady Elgin disaster.[18]
Following the sinking,Lady Elgin's owner,Gurdon Saltonstall Hubbard, received a $12,000[c] payment from hisinsurance company, but neither he nor the insurance company accepted abandonment of the ship. The captain ofAugusta, Darius Malott, was arrested and tried in Chicago, but found not guilty of navigational negligence. A coroner's jury declared his second-mate, Mr. Budge, to be incompetent, and his crew to be of principal blame.[19] However, Professor Mason and Lieutenant Bartlett asserted that a principal cause of the collision was the lack of a $15 lantern on the Augusta.[20] Steamboat historian Peter Charlebois noted that, after the investigation, Captain Malott andLady Elgin's crew and owners were absolved of any blame. He reported:
The judgement was based on a law that not only gave sail the right of way over steam, but did not require sailing vessels to carry running lights. ApparentlyAugusta had sighted the passenger steamer twenty minutes before the collision but in the rain had misjudged the distance between them. Four years after the disaster, in 1864, a new ruling was made requiring sailing vessels to carry running lights. Since there were still nearly 1,900 ships under sail by 1870 the regulations were long overdue.[6]
The wreck ofLady Elgin was discovered in 1989 offHighland Park, Illinois by Harry Zych. Zych claimed ownership of the wreck in a legal action begun in 1989 and provided a list to the court of the 130+/- artifacts that he had recovered. In addition, he testified that he had located the ship's safe lying on the bottom and inside found two gold pocket watches and 70 gold and silver coins that had been entrusted to the purser for safekeeping. He was awarded ownership in 1999 after a protracted legal battle.[21]
While the case was ongoing, the State of Illinois sought the pro-bono services of the Underwater Archaeological Society of Chicago, which under the leadership of archaeological diverValerie van Heest undertook a reconnaissance survey of the wreck site in 1992.[22][23] The wreck, consisting of four main debris fields (bow, boilers, paddlewheels, debris field) lying in 50 and 60 feet (15 and 18 m) of water. During their survey, the dive team recorded evidence that other divers had been stripping the wreck of loose artifacts left behind by Zych. Zych never donated his artifacts to any museum/museums. However, in 2023, it became known that he had given another diver permission to recover artifacts; that person donated some 160 artifacts to the Chicago Maritime Museum for an exhibit, designed by Valerie van Heest, based on her bookLost on the Lady Elgin.[24]
In 2025, it was learned that a trio of divers had recovered a gold pocket watch from the debris field in 1992. Engraving on the watchcase and a wax seal fob with the initials "H. I." provided evidence that the watch had belonged toHerbert Ingram, the most prominent individual among the victims. Valerie van Heest acquired the watch, chain, and fob from the divers. After unsuccessful attempts to find Ingram's surviving descendants, she donated the watch to theBoston Guildhall Museum, the city-run museum in Ingram's birth city of Boston, England, which maintains a statue of Ingram.[25]
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