She sank on September 8, 1874, and is generally considered the first shipwreck in the Chequamegon Bay area of Lake Superior.

During the early part of the 1870s Ashland was a small settlement, surrounded by a heavily wooded wilderness.

A good portion of Sutherland's business consisted of transporting lumber to Isle Royale, which had no sawmill of its own.

[1] On the morning of Thursday, September 6, 1874, the Owen left the island after delivering a load of lumber.

By that afternoon, the ship reached an area east of Ashland, near the mouth of the Bad River, where she sank.