[1] Launched in 1818, she transported people and supplies to sites and points of interest around the Great Lakes, before being grounded and wrecked in a gale force storm in Buffalo's bay in 1821.

According to some sources, Walk-in-the-Water's name originated from an Indian's impression of a steamboat moving ("walking") on the water with no sails.

[2][3] Walk-in-the-Water was built in 1818 at Black Rock, New York for the Lake Erie Steamboat Company by Noah Brown.

A steamboat that ran on the Great Lakes in the early 19th century, there are no photos of the vessel, but there are several eyewitness accounts of its configuration.

[6] Mounted in the bow was a four-pound wheeled cannon, used to announce the steamer's arrivals, departures and presence, as steam whistles had yet to be invented.

[7] Walk-in-the-Water was powered by a single cylinder, 73-horsepower crosshead steam engine with a 40 in (100 cm) bore and 4 ft (1.2 m) stroke, built in New York City by Robert McQueen.

[8] The engine was described as having "a curious arrangement of levers with as many cogs as a grist-mill",[8] driving the paddlewheels, which were 16 ft (4.9 m) in diameter, through a series of gears.

[2][5][a] According to one of her captains, Baton Atkins, she was named after a Wyandot Indian chief, who lived about 12 mi (19 km) south of the Detroit River.

It took ten days for the Walk-in-the-Water to travel from Buffalo to Detroit and back again carrying supplies and goods for the American Fur Company.

Bound for Detroit, the vessel, commanded by Captain J. Rogers, had departed Buffalo at 4 p.m., on October 31 and proceeded to cross Lake Erie en route.

Before reaching Point Abino some 11 mi (18 km) west of Buffalo on the Canadian shore of the lake, gale-force winds had developed.

In the late evening, the captain realized that it was virtually impossible to continue, so he turned about and proceeded back to Buffalo.

The next swell lifted the vessel and set her down with a crash, causing the keel of the boat to fracture in several places, wrecking her beyond repair.