The F.W. Wheeler & Company, in business from 1876 to 1899, at West Bay City, Michigan, built the "Pere Marquette No. 15" in 1896. The broad beam ship had four parallel tracks for rail freight cars. She sailed between the Wisconsin cities of Manitowoc and Milwaukee and Ludington, Michigan for nearly 40 years. She was dismantled at Manitowoc in 1936.