There are many songs written about shipwrecks on the Great Lakes.
By Music and Words Henry C. Work 1861/ public domain
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There are many songs written about shipwrecks on the Great Lakes. These songs were a way to commemorate the event. They gave voice to a community’s grief. They were a way to tell the story in a time before TV and radio.
The Lady Elgin, a wooden side-wheel steamer, was lost in an accident off of Winnetka, Illinois early morning September 8, 1860. She was returning from a political rally in Chicago with a large number of Milwaukee’s Irish Union Guards. As she was on her way to Milwaukee when a thunderstorm struck and gale force winds followed. A schooner, the Augusta, struggling through the strong winds and waters, collided with the Lady Elgin. The Augusta continued on her way believing that she had sustained the worst damage from the collision. The large hole that that the Lady Elgin had sustained could not be remedied and she broke up. It was later learned that the Lady Elgin had her lights set. The Augusta did not. The Augusta also had set course to pass the Lady Elgin on her starboard side instead of her portside, which was the rule of navigation. The loss of the Lady Elgin affected every family in Milwaukee’s Irish third ward. - David HB Drake.
Up from the poor man's cottage, forth from the mansion door,
Sweeping across the waters and echoing along the shore
Caught by the morning breezes, borne on the evening gale
Cometh the voice of mourning, a sad and solemn wail
CHORUS:
Lost on the Lady Elgin, sleeping to wake no more
Numbered with three hundred who failed to reach the shore
Staunch was the noble steamer, precious the freight she bore
Gaily she loosed her cables a few short hours before
Grandly she swept the harbor, joyfully rang her bell
Little thought we ere morning 'twould toll so sad a knell
CHORUS:
Lost on the Lady Elgin, sleeping to wake no more
Numbered with three hundred who failed to reach the shore
Oh hear the cry of children weeping for parents gone
Children slept that evening, but orphans woke at dawn
Sisters for brothers weeping, husbands for missing wives
Such were the ties dissevered by those three hundred lives
CHORUS:
Lost on the Lady Elgin, sleeping to wake no more
Numbered with three hundred who failed to reach the shore
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