2-995-763 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The schooner "Augusta" in port at Chicago after her collision with the "Lady Elgin" - from a photograph by S. Alschuler, 1860. 'The Lady Elgin usually made three annual excursions on Lake Superior...and it was while she was proceeding on the last of her three excursions for the present year that she met her fate. The captain of the unfortunate steamer was Mr. John Wilson...The Augusta schooner, the vessel which ran into the Lady Elgin, is owned by Mr. George W. Bissell, of Detroit, and commanded by Captain Malott. She did not escape scathless in the collision, all her head-gear, jibboom, and stanchions being carried away. Indeed it was supposed the vessel would fill, and sail was taken in and the anchor cleared away under fear of this result. The coroner's inquiry into the loss of the Lady Elgin was still proceeding at the departure of the last mail. Captain Mulott had been examined, and his evidence according to the Chicago journals, left scarcely any room to doubt that the deplorable calamity was one over which he at least had no control. According to the best authority, the number of persons on board the Lady Elgin when she left Chicago was 393, including the crew. Of these 114 are reported as saved. This would leave 279 lost...'. From "Illustrated London News", 1860.