The Lady Elgin - The Forgotten Shipwreck

the worst maritime disaster to ever take place out on Lake Michigan happened off the shores of Winnetka the year was 1860 in Chicago was playing a pivotal role in presidential politics it was here that the newly formed Republican Party had just nominated Abraham Lincoln the Democrats were holding a campaign rally for their candidate Lincoln's old nemesis Steven a Douglas on Friday September 7th hundreds of Irish Democrats from Milwaukee rode the sleek steamer at the lady Elgin down to Chicago after a jam-packed day of parades rallies dinners and speeches the rowdy group boarded the boat for the return trip a stiff wind was blowing from the south the captains fear of a storm was overruled by the passengers anxiety to get home the exact number of passengers has never been determined since all records were lost and a large number of men boarded the ship at the last minute without tickets estimates range anywhere from 500 to 700 people the boat was densely packed in overcrowded staterooms double-booked people slept on floors and hallways on benches young men snuck into the cargo hold where they slept on flour sacks and feed bags hundreds of others animated by the rally took to the dance floor where the German band played into the night all of them were unaware that a full-blown September thunderstorm was bearing down on them from the Northeast something within me said don't go I asked my husband to return by rail he argued with me and insisted that we should get on the boat Margaret Burke the ship left port around midnight it had been a hot muggy day and Captain Jack Wilson ordered the ship deep into the lake where the air was cool two hours later the ship was approximately 12 miles off Highland Park heading in the opposite direction was a lumber schooner named the Augusta the to ship spotted each other at 2:00 a.m. a half mile apart then the thunderstorm and the temperature plunged his thunder clouds released a torrential rain gale force winds turned the lake into a toy suddenly a huge wave shifted the lumber on the Augustus deck almost sinking the schooner was on its side the crews struggling to controller captain mallet of the Augusta realized they were heading straight for the steamer he screamed for them to turn at 2:30 a.m. the Augusta rammed the Lady Elgin cutting a huge gash in her Hall on the port side forward of the paddle wheel the two boats were momentarily locked together during which the Augusta did more damage prying open the side wheel planking her jib boom run through the pond tree and cut her down to the keelson so that the dishes ponds and plates were on the schooners deck I could have stepped from one vessel to the other after a few minutes a wave separated them the Augusta waited to see if the Lady Elgin needed help unable to hear a response to their calls the crew continued on to Chicago fearing for their own safety they even ripped the name board off the Augusta and tossed it into the lake to be identified later everyone on board the Elgin had felt the jolt the chandeliers were all broken and destroyed and the women were crying as my osmond opened the door of our cabin we sought chairs and tables jumping from site to site captain Wilson had been sleeping in his cabin when the crash snapped him awake he ran to the engine room water was gushing in no one could see how big the hole was for all the water he ran to the pilot house first mate George Davis had already commanded the ship heads straight for sure the captain quietly confided in Davis that the Elgin was doomed then he ordered Davis and a dozen other men into a lifeboat so they could try and plug the leak from the outside of mattresses embedding amazingly there were no wars in the lifeboat a crew member tossed them a single or just before it disappeared into the darkness at the mercy of the wind the captain shouted over and over all hands on deck all hands on deck within five or ten minutes the light boards were felled and Lord but the heavy sea one and after two storms swamp tomorrow most lifeboats were overturned or submerged by huge waves in the hall were 70 head of cabin Longhorns steered used as ballast the captain ordered them driven out into the lake lighten the ship instead the whole ship lowered into the rolling sea panic set him people began tearing the ship apart they ripped doors off their hinges pulled up floorboards anything that would float people were crazed shrieking and crying and preened the confusion on the boat is indescribable man women and children running everywhere cryin I resigned myself to the will of God and preached fervently that if it was his holy well that I should be lost he would save my immortal soul a large number of passengers were trapped in the lower decks by flooding men wielded access to free them survivors recalled the haunting cacophony the helpless cries howling wind funnel pelting rain axes smashing wood the clanging bell and above it all the mournful hissing of the steam whistle for 20 minutes the engine compartment had been flooding putting unbearable strain on the ship's framework suddenly at 2:50 a.m. the massive engines crashed through the bar the bow lifted up the ship plunged down Stern first its hull was a cavern construction its trapped air inside when water rushed in the superstructure burst is it mine with explosives the force of the water smashed all her upper works the ship went down like a house tumbling the smokestack stumbled across each other there were heart-rending shrieks first the Hulk sank right away taking at least a hundred Souls with it crew member Fred code Meyer was trapped in the hull the rushing waters caught Lee up bodily and whirled me into the engine room through the machinery it was being drawn down whirlpool on the sinking steamer somehow I managed to clutch a piece of timbers and pushed upward for those who survived the sinking the nightmare was just beginning the full force of the thunderstorm struck after the lady Elgin went down flashes of lightning revealed scores of terrified people unable to swim climbing onto the backs of Canada only to drown with them the link was strewn with wreckage floating bodies dead and dying which we could only see when a flash of lightning came sounds of prayers and curses were heard on all sides the Elgin sank of Highland Park but the storm pushed the survivors in the records to Winnetka the crew in the first lifeboat used their single oar like a rudder and the wind pushed them toward the Winnetka ravines as it neared the shore the breakers suddenly flipped the lifeboat and smashing it against the bluff miraculously all 13 men on board managed to survive they scaled the steep Bluff and saw a large house that of Jared gage when told of the wreck gage ordered his children to run and alert the neighbors he told his coachman to build a huge fire on the beach for the survivors to see he and the men then rode to the Winnetka train station and sent word to Chicago for help then they rode to Northwestern and Evanston in search of rescuers young men who could swim by dawn news had spread throughout Winnetka Glencoe in the surrounding area hundreds ran from all over to see if they could help it had been six hours since the lady Elgin had sunk when rescuers reached the bluff they saw dreadful sight a huge swath of debris and bodies stretching all the way to the horizon as far as the eye could see there was nothing but human heads sticking out of the water then witnesses saw something equally horrific those who were strong enough to swim to the beach were being pulled back in by a fierce undertow seven times I nearly reached the shore when I was caught by a strong undertow and carried back out into the lake again in this condition I was tossed about in the rough waves for thirteen hours Fred coot liar the worst part came when we reached a breakers the waves became so violent that all the people on the raft were thrown up into the air and many drowned with the shore only a few hundred feet away of all those who survived the sinking of the Lady Elgin in the long 12 mile swim to shore over half died within a few feet of the beach from the under time young men from Winnetka and Evanston the safety ropes tied around their waists Dovan to the turbulent water to save as many people as they could jacob conrad of Winnetka saved half a dozen lies until he disappeared beneath the surface the men pulled him in by the rope and revived him of all the acts of heroism none surpassed that of Edward Spencer a student at Garret biblical Institute Spencer was an expert swimmer despite suffering serious cuts and gashes from debris he dove into Lake Michigan 16 times and rescued 17 people on his last dive he dragged in a husband and wife together Charles bevor on a black drummer in the German band cut open one side of the large bass drum using it like a boat he floated all the way to winnetka's Shore unharmed captain Wilson managed to crawl onto the sand but when he saw several women with their children screaming for help he dove back in to save them as the captain helped the women the wave brought a huge timber down on him crushing his skull and he went under Captain Jack Wilson's body washed ashore two days later in Michigan City most survivors were naked stripped of their clothing by the undertow the majority washed up at the ravines but a few were brought up onto Tower Road beach at 10 o'clock I neared Winnetka landing on a sand beach some distance from the bluff I was almost naked my back was badly cut and scraped I found myself lying on the sand on the shore the moment I knew I was no longer in danger I could not move Jared gages house became a kind of makeshift hospital filled with half-dead survivors there were a lot of priests and doctors from Chicago there the doctors had a big jug of whiskey and they gave me a couple the good salve when the cuts on my back they gave me coffee and a slice of bread I begged for more but they said it would may be sick my wife was pronounced dead until a doctor from Chicago struck the bottom of her feet with a piece of pine thus starting the pulsation in her ankles when gages house was full survivors were brought to pecks place Artemus Carter's home John Garland's James Wilson's and others the dead were initially placed in the one that could train depot for identification before being transported to Wisconsin those beyond recognition naked headless decayed were buried in the Winnetka Bluff in a mass grave but Lake Michigan was slow to give up her dead for months even into the following summer bodies continued drifting ashore across four states in Milwaukee thieves slipped in among the mourners pretending to be family members searching for loved ones they picked the pockets of the dead and pulled rings off their fingers in all 297 bodies were recovered 150 less than reported lost not counting the dozens of ticketless men who jumped on board at the last minute of the 95 who made it to the beach many died days or weeks later from the long hours of exposure the wreck created 1000 orphans news of the disaster shocked the nation outrage was directed at the captain and crew of the Augusta although a lengthy investigation exonerated the captains of both ships that didn't satisfy angry Irish mobs a gang of thugs headed for the dock to burn the Augusta and kill the crew the ship left port ahead of them but the crew were marked men no one would hire them they sold the Augusta and bought a new ship called the Mojave exactly four years to the day of the wreck of the lady Elgin the Mojave was lost in a storm in northern Lake Michigan the captain and crew the same men who were aboard the Augusta that night were all drowned seminary student Edward Spencer would have given his life that day instead he gave his health he became an invalid abandoning his dream of becoming a minister two months after the tragedy Abraham Lincoln won the presidency the south rejected his election seceding from the union and the nation plunged into war [Music] the wreck of the lady Elgin was quickly forgotten her death toll dwarfed by the appalling loss of life on a Thousand battlefields

Channel: John Newcombe

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Id: -c0EzpLINaQ

Length: 14min 23sec (863 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 12 2018