GreatAmericanLakes

Shipwreck · Lake Michigan · Collision

PS Lady Elgin

A sidewheel steamer - passengers and package freight built in 1851, lost on Lake Michigan in 1860. The record: “Sunk in collision with schooner Augusta of Oswego September 8, 1860.”

Chart of the PS Lady Elgin wreck site on Lake Michigan, with nearby wrecks markedSS EastlandSS Lac La BelleRosincoSS L.R. DotyMV Material ServiceSS MerchantPS Lady Elgin

The vessel

On the record

Type
Sidewheel steamer - passengers and package freight
Builder
Bidwell and Banta; Buffalo, New York
Completed
1851
Length
252 ft (77 m)
Beam
33 ft (10 m)
Tonnage
1037.70 gross
Fate
Sunk in collision with schooner Augusta of Oswego September 8, 1860
Coordinates
42.1833° N, 87.6500° W

The same year

Also lost in 1860

The same decade

Michigan losses of the 1860s

On the bottom nearby

Nearest Michigan wrecks

  1. SS Eastland20 mi · lost 1905
  2. SS Lac La Belle30 mi
  3. Rosinco31 mi · lost 1928
  4. SS L.R. Doty31 mi · lost 1898
  5. MV Material Service32 mi
  6. SS Merchant38 mi · lost 1875

Straight-line distance between published positions.

On the horizon

Nearest lights

On shore

Worth the stop

Source

Vessel facts on this page come from the infobox of the English Wikipedia article PS Lady Elgin, retrieved 2026-10-11. We print the fields as recorded and add nothing; a missing field means the record is silent. Tonnage and dimensions were often measured more than one way in their day, so they can differ between sources.

Chart shoreline generalized from Natural Earth (public domain). Not for navigation. Something wrong or missing? Write to contact@greatamericanlakes.com.