Posted by M. Saleh on October 08, 1999 at 22:15:08:
In Reply to: Re: Lady Elgin Wreck posted by M. Saleh on October 08, 1999 at 20:56:41:
: : 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 actually 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 steer the Lady Elgin northward, he managed to run the huge steamship at a speed fast enough to separate it fron the Augusta that had been 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. Captain Wilson now told his crew, quietly, that the Lady Elgin would probably 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 then 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, both ship and passengers was also hopeless, the next proceedure on Captain Jack Wilson's brilliant agenda to save the sinking ship and its passengers, was to throw all heavy things, that occupied the ship (except for passengers, of course) overboard. The material cargo on the Lady Elgin included its luxuriously elegant furniture, and other cargo beneath the deck which included castiron stoves and 50 head of cattle. At this time, Captain Jack Wilson had become desperate for the lives of his passengers, and the ship that he had always promoted as his "Vessel of Beauty and Love" and ultimate haven of friendship now mattered little to him, as he made the outrageous order to chop down 66 cabin doors, gently but firmly pull out the cabin occupants, and get the large number of passengers onto the outer decks of the ship. Captain Jack Wilson now assumed full power, command, and supreme authority over 400passengers as he stricly ordered them to sit down and be totally silent if they wanted to live, as the brave and noble ship captain was the only person who alloed himself to stay standing on his feet and to walk around the decks as they were also chopped up into rafts held together by ropes that Captain Wilson had tied to each deck-raft to keep what was left of the Lady Elgin together as the bottom section and the rear of the ship sunk to the bottom of the lake. With only two good lifeboats to be used, Captain Jack Wilson ordered his First Mate Davis, and his other officers into a lifeboat to get themselves quickly to the shore to get help, while the Captain ordered the other small boat launched filled to its capacity with about 17 passengers on board. The brave and unselfish Captain Wilson remained with his passengers on the 60 foot hurricane deck and the other decks tied to it. Captain Wilson was now determined to render all his assistence he had the great strenghth and power to give as he called out the names of his passengers and made sure they responded to his loud yelling that continued every few minutes between the sounds of thunder and flashes of lightening that caused him to be seen by his stunned but terrified passengers. Captain Wilson continued to give great amounts of cheerful encouragement to all his passengers that they would all reach the shore and be survivors,as he assured himself, also, that he would survive as he always had survived in the past. All the passengers from Milwaukee and other passengers needed to do was follow his orders and maintain their positions near him on the deck rafts. Throughout the intense terror of the Lady Elgin disaster Captain Jack Wilson was now an inspiration of enrmous strenghth, devotion and dedication to the lives of his passengers, as the wooden decks began to weaken and break apart. By about 4;30am, with now help yet in sight the struggling passengers could only look up toward the brightly shining moon to see the eerie shadow-like image of Captain Jack Wilson up against it, as he continuously yelled with his loud voice, as he held his hands in the air to cheer his passengers on in the life and death struggle of survival through the savage wind and waves that tossed the the survivors westward. Pardon me now, but I'm being pressured to take leave of my place near Captain Wilson and my Excursionist "friends" from Milwaukee by more modern means of transportation to arrive home. I promise to return to my deck raft next week.