While steaming up the Pestigo River, the tug Ben Drake struck a snag and got a log tangled in her paddle wheel. Another report states that a board got kicked up by the wheel and punctured a hole thru the hull causing her to sink in nine feet of water. The tug was taken to Sturgeon Bay and put into dry dock where it was discovered that the hull was so rotten that it was not worth repairing. She was allowed to sink near the upper Mill wharf, which is located near the north end of the wharf. Her engine, boiler, shaft, and wheel were all salvaged and she was abandoned at the Sturgeon Bay boneyard.

Last Document of Enrollment surrendered 12/1/84 "Vessel unfit for service".
From the Wisconsin Historical Society Maritime Preservation and Archaeology files: "In attempting to land at the upper mill wharf last Wednesday evening, the schooner Richard Mott ran upon the hull of the old tug Ben Drake, which lies on the bottom at the north end of the wharf." DCA 11/27/1884.