Posted by M. Saleh on October 08, 1999 at 20:56:41:
In Reply to: Lady Elgin Wreck posted by Ron Falconberry on July 28, 1999 at 22:18:27:
: I am working on a speech to give to my Toastmaster's club about a person involved in the 1860 wreck of the Lady Elgin. His name was Edward Spencer and he reportedly rescued 17 people from drowning.
: I am interested in getting historical information on the wreck, such as the name of the ship that ran into it, possibly the name of the captain and any well-known individuals that may have been on board. Additionally, where did the Lady Elgin come from and where was it going?
: Is there a web site or another way of getting a good historical breakdown of the wreck or of Edward Spencer?
: Any information you could give me would be appreciated!
: Thank you;
Sorry to keep you waiting for my next article about Captain Jack Wilson of the Lady Elgin, but I hope you enjoyed reading my first two articles about this amazing Great Lakes ship captain. Toninght I'm back on board the Lady Elgin to give you the adventurous and very tragic account of the final hours of the Lady Elgin and the superheroic efforts of Captain jack Wilson, who would, in spite of his high spirited confidence, cheerfulness, and hopefulness to save his passengers, he would be forced to sacrifice his own life along with them at the murderous hands of Captain Darius Mallot with his Augusta schooner. "The Augusta is pretty wild", said Captain Mallot when his unlit Augusta closed in on the Lady Elgin, while the schooner captain keptits unchanged course southward, as Captain Wilson maintained his Lady Elgin on its own unchanged course northward toward Milwaukee. In the blinding and stormy darkness, however, Captain Wilson and his Second mate Beeman never actually saw a full view of the Augusta since Captain Mallot had ordered its sailes pulled down. When the August was inches away from the Lady Elgin, Captain Wilson, though always normally very alert to the possiblity of a collision with the Augusta, suddenly yelled, "Hard a port...Stay out of the way", Captain Wilson had apparently judged the Augusta to be out of harm's way of the Lady Elgin. When the Augusta acually hit the Lady Elgin through its side wheel and the wall next to the gigantic wheel, the force of the collision threw Captain Wilson against the large steering wheel of the ship as he continued to navigate his ship northward, with the Augusta stuck within the wall of the Lady Elgin. As Captain Wilson Managed to stter the Lady Elgin northward, he managed to run the huge steamship at a speed fast enough to separate it fron the Augusta that had bee caught for a few minutes inside the Lady Elgin. With the Lady Elgin free from contact with the Augusta, Captain Wilson, his crew members, and passengers realized the reality that the Lady Elgin had, in reality, been hit by the Augusta. Captain Jack Wilson was then heard to yell out to Captain Mallot that he needed help, but no answer came from Captain Mallot and his crew before Captain Mallot ordered the Augusta to continue southward to Chicago in his own beief that the Augusta had only damaged the trimming of the Lady Elgin, and the Lady Elgin had done worse damage to the front of the Augusta. With Captain Mallot gone for the scene of the hit and run collision, Captain jack Wilson and his crew could now only go beneath the deck of the lady elgin and found the lower part of the Steamship filling with water, and Captain Wilson now told his crew, quietly, that the Ldy Elgin would probable sink. since the hole made by the Augusta had created extenseve damage to the side and bottom of the Lady Elgin. The Cool-headed and well organized Captain Jack Wilson the ordered that he and his mates get one of the three lifeboats and old mattresses to repair the hole in the steamship, as it continued to fill with water below the decks. When the effort to repair the fatal damage to the Lady Elgin, Captain Jack Wilson courageously steered the Lady Elgin with its suddenly silent passengers westward to the Winnetka, Illinois shore, since the Lady Elgin was only about 6 miles from the shore. When Captain Wilson attempted to beach the Steamship. When Captain Wilson Saw that this effort to save both ship and passengers was also hopeless, he decided that the ship the he not too long ago promoted to be his haven of "Beauty and Love" and "friends" was now only a doomed vessel that mattered little to him.