The Aetna was originally constructed as a two-masted schooner at Madison Dock, Ohio, by Bailey Bros. It was measured with a gross tonnage of 416 tons. It was enrolled in the same year in Cleveland to transport grain and corn across the Great Lakes. Then, in 1865, it was enrolled in Chicago and remeasured to a tonnage of 317 gross tons. The Aetna went ashore on Thunder Bay Island in Lake Huron during June of 1866. It was involved in a collision with the schooner Arrow on Lake Michigan in October of the same year; the collision resulted in the loss of the Aetna's bowsprit.

In 1871 and 1873, the vessel received repairs including new decks. While wintering in Chicago over 1875 to 1876, the Aetna was rebuilt as a three-masted schooner.
At the time of its final voyage, Charles Class H. Meyer captained the Aetna. The foundering of the ship was described by Captain Meyer in an article by the Chicago Inter Ocean published on November 20, 1878. The crew onboard at the time included the captain, First Mate John Kroon, Cook James Halpin, and five seamen: John F. Mitchell, Amos Marshall, John Davis, Evan Reynolds, William Reaber. While crossing Lake Huron, loaded with coal, with schooners S.H. Foster and J.D. Sawyer, the Aetna lost sight of the two other ships and proceeded to cross Saginaw Bay. During the night of October 15, 1878, the Aetna had made it to Lake Michigan. Captain Meyer discovered four feet of water in the hold and quickly called for all hands to pump water out of the vessel. These efforts proved futile, as water continued to flood the Aetna's decks.

Luckily, the Aetna was in close proximity to another schooner Fleetwing. Within minutes, the crew escaped the sinking ship onto the Fleetwing. The Aetna sunk within forty minutes, four miles west of South Fox Reef, in, reportedly, 480 to 570 feet of water. The cause for the leak is yet uncertain. Captain Meyer then reported that one crew member informed him, "when the Aetna was between Skillagallee and the Beaver, he felt her scrape as if passing over a reef. She may have sustained damage at this time, but I don't know."
The actual location and condition of the Aetna have not yet been confirmed by field investigation.