On July 24, 1915, about 850 passengers died when the EASTLAND rolled onto her side at a dock along the Chicago River. About 7,300 employees of Western Electric Co. had bought tickets for an annual summer picnic excursion across Lake Michigan to Michigan City, Ind. The EASTLAND, which had a checkered history, was one of five passenger chartered for the party. The ship’s design with later modifications was a contributing factor to the disaster.

The EBER WARD was built in 1888 at Werst Bay City, Mich., and sank on April 19, 1909, six miles west of Mackinaw City. She was transporting a load of 55,000 bushels of corn from Chicago to Port Huron. Of the 16 people on board, five lost their lives. Divers discovered the wreck in 1980.

The E. M. FORD, built in 1898 as the PRESQUE ISLE at Cleveland, was a 406-foot cement carrier that sank in 28 feet of water at the City of Milwaukee dock on Christmas Day, 1979, partially blocking entrance to a Jones Island terminal. The vessel was raised in 1980, the hardened cement chipped away. She was eventually sold for scrap in 2008.

Built in 1892 as the PILLSBURY at Superior, Wis., the whaleback package freight and bulk steamer was renamed the HENRY COURT in 1895. This vessel sank in Lake Erie in 1934.

Originally built as the MENOMINEE, the steamer IOWA was rebuilt and lengthened to 202.5 feet in 1896 at Manitowoc, Wis. During her career, she suffered a number of accidents and groundings. In 1915, she was heavily damaged by ice and succeeded in reaching its dock in the Chicago River, where it sank.

Around 300 people lost their lives when the excursion steamer LADY ELGIN and the lumber-laden schooner AUGUSTA collided about 2 a.m. Sept. 8, 1860, off Winnetka, Ill. Many of the lost were Milwaukee residents of Irish descent. The wreck of LADY ELGIN was discovered in 1989.

The WILLIAM NOTTINGHAM resting on a beach at Buffalo, N.Y., in 1907. Six years later it became stranded at Whitefish Bay, Mich., with the loss of three men in the great storm of November 1913.

Built as the A. WEHRLE JR. in 1889, and renamed the ROTARIAN about 1919, she ran in the excursions trade from Sandusky, Ohio, to the western islands in Lake Erie. She later sold excursions on the St. Louis River. About 1928 she served as restaurant or club room on the Chicago River. On Oct. 11, 1936, she sank. No lives were lost.

The W. H. GILBERT was the largest package freight steamer built up to 1892. That year she carried 106,000 bushels of wheat from Duluth, 105,000 from Chicago, 2,762 gross tons of iron ore from Two Harbors and 38,000 barrels of flour from Duluth. She sank in a collision with the freighter CALDER in Lake Huron on May 22, 1914.