The PS Lady Elgin was a wooden-hulled sidewheel steamship that sank in Lake Michigan off the fledgling town of Port Clinton, Illinois, whose geography is now divided between Highland Park and Highwood, Illinois, after she was rammed in a gale by the schooner Augusta in the early hours of September 8, 1860. The passenger manifest was lost with the collision, but the sinking of Lady Elgin resulted in the loss of about 300 lives in what was called "one of the greatest marine horrors on record". Four years after the disaster, a new rule required sailing vessels to carry running lights. The Lady Elgin disaster remains the greatest loss of life on open water in the history of the Great Lakes.
Lady Elgin at Dock September 7, 1860 42°11′00″N 87°39′00″W / 42.18333°N 87.65000°W / 42.18333; -87.65000
1857 Bird's eye view of Chicago, with the Lady Elgin at bottom right
Wood-engraving of the collision from Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper
The Lady Elgin, sinking, half an hour after she had been run into, off Winnetka, Illinois - New York Illustrated News
Au Sable Light is an active lighthouse in the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore west of Grand Marais, Michigan off H-58. Until 1910, this aid to navigation was called "Big Sable Light".
Au Sable Light complex in June 2021
Undated historic photo of the lighthouse
Distant view of the lighthouse from Grand Sable Dunes