On November 10, 1898, while being towed out of Cleveland harbour with a cargo of coal bound for Duluth, she broke away from the tug Alva B.

A Scottish immigrant, Great Lakes captain, inventor[3] and entrepreneur, McDougall developed the idea of the whaleback as a way to improve the ability of barges to follow a towing vessel in heavy seas.

[4] Whalebacks were characterized by distinctive hull shapes with rounded tops, lacking conventional vertical sides, and conoidal ends.

[5] The rounded contours of whalebacks gave them an unconventional appearance,[4] and McDougall's ship and barge designs were received with considerable skepticism, resistance, and derision.

[6][7] After McDougall was unable to persuade existing shipbuilders to try his designs, he founded the American Steel Barge Company in Superior, Wisconsin in 1888, and built them himself.

[8] Despite McDougall's further efforts to promote the design with the excursion liner Christopher Columbus, whalebacks never caught on, with only 44 of them being built.

[21] A.D. Thompson and 104 proceeded up the Detroit River, as 104 did not immediately begin to fill with water, and her pumps kept her dry.

As neither of them had enough time to drop anchors in order to avoid grounding, both of them ran aground on Chequamegon Point.

[2][22][23] Late in the evening on November 10, 1898, 104, with 7 crewmen on board,[12][18] was being towed out of Cleveland harbour by the tug Alva B. in a heavy storm.

[18][24] Cleveland United States Life-Saving Service were notified of 104's situation, arriving at the scene with a lifeboat.

[11][12] An article published on November 14, in The Times Herald of Port Huron, Michigan reported that 104 had already broken up.