The J.C. Ames was initially built as the J.C. Perrett at the shipyards of Rand & Burger in Manitowoc in 1881. With its 670 HP fore-and-aft compound steam engine, the Perrett was one of the largest and most powerful tugboats ever built on the Great Lakes. The large tug was initially used in the lumber trade, hauling as many as five barges worth of lumber to port. With the vessels' size and strength, the Perrett would serve a variety of roles over its long career. In 1889 while the Perrett was transiting the Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal, the steambarge M.T. Greene collided with the tug where it received damage to its stem that required repairs. In 1895 the J.C. Perrett was purchased by the Lake Michigan Car Ferry Transportation Company of Peshtigo, Wisconsin where it was used to haul two railroad barges between Chicago and Peshtigo. In 1896 the Perrett had its boilers replaced with two 9 x 14 firebox boilers built by Johnston Brothers of Ferrysburg, Michigan. During this overhaul, the tug was relaunched with a new name the J.C. Ames. In 1908 the tug was sold again to George C. Nau of the Nau Tug Line and was based out of Green Bay, where it was used to haul barges of pulpwood from ports on Lake Superior to Green Bay. In 1918 the J.C. Ames was sold again to the Newaygo Tug Line of Appleton, Wisconsin.
After a long career, the J.C. Ames was dismantled, its engines, boilers, and anything of value removed at Manitowoc. Its remaining hull was towed outside of Manitowoc in Maritime Bay and set ablaze for the enjoyment of spectators in 1923. This was a common practice with the elderly ships of the time. The Ames burned to the waterline and sank into 9 feet of water where it was further dismantled by wind, waves, and ice, until it was buried underneath the sand and forgotten.
In May 2025 the wreck of the J.C. Ames was relocated in Maritime Bay off of Manitowoc by Christopher Thuss, the step-grandson of fellow shipwreck discoverer "Shipwreck Suzze" Johnson. Thuss discovered the wreck on his sonar while fishing north of the Manitowoc Breakwater. The wreckage was identified in collaboration with maritime historian and president of the Wisconsin Underwater Archaeology Association, Brendon Baillod. Maritime Archaeologists from the Wisconsin Historical Society followed up with a dive on the wreckage shortly after.