The wooden sidewheel steamer Nile was launched July 4, 1843. She had been built by Benjamine Goodsell and had no official registry number. Her single cylinder, low pressure engine had come from the Milwaukee which had wrecked at Milwaukee in 1842. In 1846 and for a few trips in 1847, she ran between Detroit and Buffalo, New York and the she shifted to the Buffalo Detroit Chicago route.

June 1844; Aground at Bois Blanc Island in the Detroit River.

July 1844; Broke a shaft on Lake Erie.

July 1844: Collided with the propeller Oswego on Lake Erie. Repaired at Detroit.

1845: Rebuilt.

October 1845 and May 1846: Aground in the Detroit River.

July 1846: Broke shaft.

August 1849: Collided with the Wisconsin near the St. Clair River and then repaired.

October 1849: The Nile had been damaged during a gale which stranded her near Milwaukee. She was raised and refloated, but stranded again while under tow.

Last Document of Enrollment: Detroit: 4/22/1844
September 5, 1850. The steamer Nile, while stranded in the mouth of the Milwaukee river in the rear of "Alanson Sweat's old warehouse on the island caught fire and burned to the water's edge. The warehouse also burned.

"The Nile was burned to the water's edge. Her furniture and most of her engines had been taken out when she was ashore near the North Pier, and they were making preparation to take her out of the water to repair the damages to her hull.
There was no insurance on the the Nile. On the warehouse therewas an insurance of $1,000 in the Milwaukee Mutual Insurance Co., which abut covers the loss." Milwaukee Sentinel 9/06/1850.
Possibly salvaged by Caleb Harrison in 1852. Another source, a speech given by M.A. Boardman in 1888, states that the Nile was: "accordingly she was hauled into the lake (Lake Michigan) and swallowed up."