The 218 foot long lumber hooker Cormorant was built in 1873 as a ore carrier, but also carried grain, coal and lumber. She worked this trade until the late 1880's when she was sold to the Edward Hines Lumber Company. In this trade she was considered one of the best lumber carriers and usually towed a barge or two behind her.
On October 30, 1907, the Cormorant was leaving Bayfield, Wisconsin, after dropping off her barge Helvetia and heading for Duluth, Minnesota. She was in the west channel when she was found to be on fire. The captain beached her immediately and got her crew off to safety. A tug from Bayfield came to help put out the fire, but it was too late, the fire had made too much headway and burned completely to the waterline. The tug returned to Bayfield with the crew. Another version of the story says the Cormorant was anchored on the north side of Bass Island, loading rough logs, when the fire broke out.
The Cormorant was valued at $19,000.

Confusion exists over the final disposition of the remains of the Cormorant. It has been reported that her hull is located in Red Cliff Bay. But, the Cormorant's burned out hull was towed into Bayfield on November 17,1907 by the salvager J.B.Wanless out of Duluth, Wisconsin. The engine and boiler were salvaged in Bayfield (two photos in the book The "Unholy" Apostles by James Keller show this) and the remaining hull was towed to Duluth by the tug E.G. Crosby. After arriving at Duluth the story goes cold as to what happened to the hull.