The keel of the steam ARROW was 165 feet, 3 inches. She was 28 feet wide and 55 feet wide over the guards. She had a depth of 9 feet and 5 inches. The ARROW was built in 1895, by Detroit Dry Dock Company in Wyandotte, Michigan. She was built for the Sandusky and Island Steamboat Company, which was located in Sandusky. It was the first steel steamer built for the Island route since the ISLAND QUEEN.

On January 7, 1895, she was towed into Detroit, where she received the engine from the steamer JAY COOKE. She had steel feathering wheels. The cabins interiors were paneled in mahogany. There was a promenade deck that extended around the whole boat. The whole boat was lighted by electricity. She could carry 900 passengers.

The ARROW made her trial run into Lake St. Clair on Saturday, April 27, 1895. Her captain was Captain George A. Brown. The mate was August Foy; chief engineer Nelson Lockhart; and clerk, Eugene McFall. On her trial run of the Island route, she was escorted by the steamers THE AMERICAN EAGLE and FRANK E. KIRBY.

On May 1, 1895, she started the Island route. Her stops included Sandusky, Kelleys Island, Middle Bass, North Bass, and Put-In-Bay. She only had three captains while she was on the Island run. The first was Captain George A. Brown. In 1906, William Slackford took over, and when he left her in 1907, Harry Tyrie was her captain.

On September 5, 1946, the ARROW was sold to the McCormick Shipping Corporation of Panama where she was placed in the Central American Banana trade. The ARROW was wrecked off Barrier Reef near Honduras on August 9, 1948. She had been many things to many men.

Excerpts from an article by Captain Hamilton. Courtesy of Rutherford B. Hayes Memorial Library.