The Jennifer was originally built as the steel hull propeller Cacouna from halves of sister ships by the George T. Davie & Sons Ltd. Shipyard in 1964 at Lauzon, P.Q. (Quebec), Canada. Her official Canadian registry number was C313980. She was a steel steamer used as a bulk/package freighter. At the time of the sinking, the Jennifer was owned by the Matthew Shipping Company of Montreal and was under charter of the Algoma Steel Corporation in Soo, Canada.

December 1973: Damaged alongside wharf at Seven Islands.

February 1974: Suffered a fire near the chief's cabin at Sorel, P.Q. Caused by a welders torch.

May 1974: Stranded at Bar Harbor, ME. Gotten off and dry docked at Boston to repair dented and holed bottom plating.
On December first 1974, the Canadian ship the Jennifer sank in approximately 450 feet of water approximately 20 miles north of Milwaukee. The 210 foot freighter was bound to Milwaukee with 1,406 tons of steel plates valued at $300,000. Apparently, the 12 to 14 foot waves and winds up to 40 knots caused the steel plates to shift and possibly caused one to puncture the hull. A Coast Guard rescue helicopter removed four of the crew and the remaining eleven were picked up by a British freighter an hour later, just minutes before the Jennifer sank.