On July 13, 1890, the steamer Sea Wing left the landing here for a Sunday excursion down the Mississippi River to Lake City carrying 215 passengers and crew. Based in Diamond Bluff, Wisconsin, the vessel was usually used as a log-rafter, but for this trip captain and co-owner David Wethern had lashed a barge to it to increase passenger capacity. Red Wing residents took special interest in the outing because Lake City was hosting the Minnesota National Guard summer encampment and Company G included many Red Wing men. At 8 p.m., after a day of festivities in Lake City, the Sea Wing started back. Four miles into the return trip, rising winds from the Minnesota shore buffeted the vessel, and a heavy gust suddenly rolled the top-heavy steamer over. Passengers in the cabin were trapped and drowned, others were thrown into the water, and volunteers from Lake City and the National Guard camp braved treacherous waters to rescue some survivors. Those on the barge were saved because it remained upright. During the next four days, 98 bodies were recovered from the wreckage and the lake, including 77 people from Red Wing and nearby townships. Wethern, who survived after losing his wife and youngest son, was later found guilty of negligence by federal steamboat inspectors. The loss of the Sea Wing and 98 of its passengers ranks among the worst accidents recorded on the nation's inland waterways.