Chicago Maritime Museum
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Shipwrecks

Human folly, misfortune or deadly force?

​"There is a quiet horror about the Great Lakes which grows as one revisits them," said Rudyard Kipling. People find the power of the storms on the Great Lakes astouding. More people have lost their lives off Chicago than anywhere else on the Great Lakes. This is due to the large amount of shipping combined with winter gales at the southern most tip of the lake where ships have little room to run in front of storms that gain power over the 300 mile length of the lake. The most frequent shipwrecks were of sailing ships that were blown aground on a lee shore, from an abrupt summer thunderstorm or a winter storm.
Chicago Shipwrecks
Eastland Disaster
Historical Chicago Lighthouses
Lady Elgin
U.S. Life-Saving Stations
Chicago Maritime Museum is a 501(C)(3) Nonprofit registered in the US under Tax ID 36-3205719
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Chicago Maritime Museum®. ​Registered in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
  • Home
  • VISIT
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
  • Events
  • SUPPORT US
    • Donate >
      • Donate to the CMM Recovery Fund
      • Donate to the CMM General Fund
      • Sponsor
    • Join
    • Volunteer
  • EDUCATION PROGRAMS
    • MODEL BUILDING >
      • WOOD CARVING CLASS
      • MODEL BUILDING CLASS
      • SHIP-IN-A-BOTTLE CLASS
    • SCHOOL VISITS
    • CHICAGO HISTORY CURRICULA
  • History
    • Commerce and the Waterways
    • Military Training
    • Shipwrecks
    • Recreation and Tourism
  • Collections
    • Artifacts >
      • Lyle Gun
      • Wells Light
    • Canoes >
      • Tete-de-Boule Birchbark
      • Canadian Birchbark Canoe
      • Eskimo Caribou Skin Kayak
      • Greenland Eskimo Kayak
      • U.S. Coast Guard Rescue Craft
    • Images >
      • Chicago Lighthouse
      • Lady Elgin
      • Rush Street Bridge
      • Fort Dearborn
    • Model Watercraft >
      • Le Griffon
      • Lady Elgin
      • Challenge
      • Subchaser 1943
      • USS Wolverine
  • News
  • Online Stories