The wooden steam screw Petoskey was built at Manitowoc in 1888 at the Burger and Burger shipyard and her home port was Grand Haven, Michigan. Her official registry number was 150425. The vessel had diagonal steel straps, an iron lined boiler house and a steam windlass. She originally ran from Chicago to Traverse City, Petoskey and Harbor Springs.

January 1895: Released by the tug Tramp after becoming stuck in the ice at Benton Harbor.

January 1898: Collided with the steamer Iowa near Kenosha.

May 1898: Received new boilers and reinforced bow at Manitowoc.

May 1899: Released by the steamer Crescent after grounding on a sand bar off Omena.

July 1899: Collided with the steamer Columba at Mackinac Island.

September 1899: Ashore near Encampment.

August 1901: Collided with the steamer Frank Woods at the Chicago harbor.

1927: Rebuilt at the Burger and Burger shipyard receiving a new scotch boiler.
The wooden passenger steamer Petoskey burned in the yard of the Sturgeon Bay Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co. on December 3, 1935. The fire, which was discovered about 8 PM, may have been caused by sparks from acetylene torches being used in the modification of another ship in the yard, the E.G. Crosby a steel steamer being cut down for use as a barge. The fire eventually spread to four other ships before being brought under control. None were insured. The five destroyed vessels were: Beaver a tug 155225; the schooner Lucia A. Simpson 140097; the steamer Swift 81432; the steamer E.G.Crosby 127731; and of course the steamer Petoskey 150425.