The wooden scow-schooner Ella Doak was built in 1868 in Pentwater, Michigan. The Ella Doak had two other sister vessels: the Lizzie Doak was the youngest and lasted the longest; Ella Doak the middle: and Kate Doak was the oldest and had a short and mysterious career.
The Ella Doak was involved in traded primarily between the village of Ahnapee, Wisconsin (now Algoma), and the cities of Sheboygan, Milwaukee, Racine, and Chicago. The products traded were some form of lumber such as: posts, slabs, sawdust, cordwood, and bark. An occasional cargo of trade goods, farm produce or ice found its way onto the Ella Doak as well.

The scow-scooner Ella Doak "...familiary known among the sailing fraternity as "Queen of the beach", has had more narrow escapes from total wreck than any we have heard of. Less than a year ago she capsized; on one trip she went upon the beach four times, and during the time she has run she has each season gone through the toughest kind of experiances." Green Bay Gazette, also Marinette Eagle, 9/25/1875.

Last Document Of Enrollment (number 13) Surrendered: Milwaukee: October 1, 1875: "Total Loss".
The three-masted scow- schooner Ella Doak had departed Ludington, Michigan and was facing a Door County gale on August 5,1875 when she ended up high and dry on the stoney beach of Hedgehog Harbor just inside Death's Door in Green Bay . She had spent the previous day loading stone and had moored for the night when the winds came up. The vessel suffered heavy damage; her sides were crushed and her hold soon filled with water and debris. Reports that Captain John Doak had somehow managed to repair the hull well enough to relaunch her, were to no avail. By late November, salvagers had cut off her spars and removed her rigging, leaving the hull to succumb to the elements. Since she was not insured, the Doak's loss was a blow to her owners M.L. Doak and O.P. of Ahnapee.
In 1876, James Tuft of Clay Banks apparently attempted to rebuild the broken Ella Doak. No records exist to confirm that he was ever successful.