The Tashmoo was nicknamed the "White Flyer" and, because of the number of windows on the ship, the "Glass Hack.

[5] A paper in Detroit, Michigan subsequently listed nine vessels that could have easily beaten the City of Chicago.

A. Parker, the president of the White Star Line, offered $1,000 to any ship that could beat the Tashmoo in a race.

The president of the Cleveland Buffalo Transit Company accepted the challenge on behalf of his ship, the City of Erie.

The course was 82 nautical miles (152 km; 94 mi) long and went from Cleveland, Ohio to Erie, Pennsylvania.

[5] On December 8, 1927, the Tashmoo snapped its moorings during a gale and starting drifting up the Detroit River.