When Ships Collide
The Story of the Lady Elgin, Part 2
by Wayne "Skip" Kadar

Join us in the continuation as Lake Michigan pours itself into the Lady Elgin.

Captain Wilson ran below to the engine room to survey the damage. His ship had sustained a large breach extending from just above the main deck to below the waterline. Lake Michigan was pouring into the ship.

Captain Wilson ordered the ship be lightened by herding the cargo of 50 head of cattle off the ship. The cargo of heavy cast iron cook stoves were moved to starboard hoping to create enough of a list to bring the port side gash above the waterline.

Crew in the engine room yelled to the panicking passengers above them to throw mattresses and other bedding down. They stuffed the breach in the hull hoping to slow the incoming water.

A ship's yawl was lowered with crew aboard to survey the damage and assist with filling the breach. The seas were so rough that the small boat was tossed about as if it were a cork.

As it approached the sinking Lady Elgin, the yawl was smashed against the hull. Crew attempted to fend the yawl off the ship with their oars; but as the waves pushed the small boats into the ship the oars were snapped like twigs. The Lady Elgin, still under power, pulled away from the yawl, leaving the crew to fend for themselves.

Returning to the bridge, Captain Wilson ordered the Lady Elgin towards shore. As long as the boilers produced steam, they would try to make it to the shallow water near shore. He turned to his first mate and confided, "Prepare yourself son, we won't make it to shore."

Aboard the Augusta, Captain Malott picked himself off the deck, where he had fallen as a result of the collision. He found his wood ship being dragged broadside by the large passenger ship. He knew his wood schooner would not fare well in a collision with an iron hull vessel. As his ship dislodged from the Lady Elgin he heard the cracking and splintering of timbers and feared the Augusta was breaking apart. Although, what he heard was not his ship breaking apart, it was the Lady Elgin being torn apart by the Augusta, ripping away the Lady Elgin's paddlewheel.

As the Augusta dislodged from the passenger ship, Captain Malott was amazed his ship was still afloat. Fearing the Augusta would soon sink and the iron hull of the other ship should remain afloat, Captain Malott, ordered his ship to sail toward Chicago.

Onboard the Lady Elgin, John Crilley and Charles Everts were asleep when the Augusta smashed into the Lady Elgin. They had retired to their cabin and quickly fallen asleep after celebrating the success of the day by dancing and indulging in merriment. The crash jarred them awake, almost throwing them to the floor. In their bedclothes, they left their cabin to see what had occurred. The ship had taken on such a list they had to climb uphill to get out of their cabin doorway.

"The ship is sinking!" came a cry from aft. Crilley froze in fright…he couldn't swim.

Charles, running towards the cabin, yelled for John, "Come on, we need to find life jackets, and get off the ship!" John couldn't move, "No, I'll stay on the ship."

Charles ran back and grabbed John by the arm and pulled him into the cabin. "The ship is sinking. You'll die if you stay!" Charles yelled at John.

No life preservers were found, so Charles began to remove the cabin doors. "We can float on these," he reassured John.

John, in a state of shock, took the door Charles handed him, holding on to it so tightly his knuckles whitened from his grip. He watched and listened to passengers on deck, running about and screaming. One woman clutching her baby to her breast screamed hysterically, "My baby, my baby!" While a man, face pale and eyes wide with fright, slowly walked calling for his wife.

The two men, carrying their doors, joined the other panicked passengers in the main cabin. Captain Wilson came in and shouted over the wailing crowd, "Get to the other side!" in an effort to cause the ship to list on its starboard side still attempting to raise the gash in the port side of the vessel above the waterline.

The Lady Elgin, black smoke bellowing from her stacks, headed towards shore. However, battling the seas, the wind, and the water pouring into her hull and with the port side paddlewheel missing, the ship made very slow headway. The water pouring through the rupture in her hull caused the ship to sink lower in the lake. Women screamed, babies cried and men huddled in panic in the main cabin, where they had earlier danced. Gaiety was replaced with fear. John, scared of the watery death, which he was sure awaited, clutched his door and prayed. Charles reassured him that they could make it to shore. "I'll carry you to shore on my back if I have to," he promised John.

Watch for the continuation next month.

Wayne "Skip" Kadar's latest book titled, Great Lakes Passenger Ship Disasters can be purchased at the Corner Store in Harbor Beach or by calling the publisher, Avery Color Studios, Inc. at 1-800-722-9925. Avery Color Studios is the publisher of an extensive list of Great Lakes books.