The three-masted schooner Joseph Cochrane was built by Hosea Rogers, a prolific shipbuilder, for his own personal business, which ensured that the ship was built to a high standard. Launched in 1856, the Joseph Cochrane is the first ship to be launched with its masts already installed. It was built shorter than its predecessor, the Oliver Culver, so that it could fit through the Welland Canal. The schooner transported bulk cargo and general merchandise. It was sold in August 1860 to Mariner Thomas L. Parker and Captain Levi Allen of Buffalo, which led to the changing of its home port to Buffalo in 1861. The ship received modifications in 1865, removing a mast and its figurehead. Parker bought full rights to the ship in 1865 before selling it to a trio in Chicago in 1867: Charles W. Lindgren (who was replaced by a Charles Anderson), William Hea (who later sold his share to a Robert Bruce), and Frank Bruce.
On a stormy October 23, 1870, the Joseph Cochrane was carrying lumber from Cheboygan, Michigan when it sprung a leak. The crew operated pumps throughout the night while the captain planned to dock at Baileys Harbor, but the ship missed the navigation channel and was grounded on the reef. The crew was picked up on October 25 by a boat from the brig H.E. Mussey. The Joseph Cochrane was rapidly destroyed by the elements, and was abandoned.
In 2003, the Joseph Cochrane was listed in the National Register of Historic Places as the Christina Nilsson, which was another shipwreck found in Baileys Harbor. However, when the original insurance statements from 1884 were cross-referenced with the locations of the wrecks, it was determined that the Christina Nilsson could not be where the Joseph Cochrane currently is, and thus the wreck was properly renamed and its nomination was revised.