The schooner George B. Sloan was built in 1873 in Oswego, New York, by Andrew Miller. It had a length of 138 feet, a beam of 26 feet 2 inches, and a depth of 11 feet 2 inches. The vessel had three masts and a gross tonnage of 313.95 and a net tonnage of 298.
Throughout its history, the George B. Sloan encountered several incidents. In 1876, it was owned by Hathaway & Company of Oswego, New York. On September 27 of that year, it struck a stone in the Welland Canal wall between Stone Bridge and Port Colborne, causing it to sink. It was later repaired but experienced another leak on Lake Erie and had to put into Erie, Pennsylvania.
On October 22, 1881, the George B. Sloan lost its jibboom and bob stays in a collision with an unknown vessel off Racine, Wisconsin, in Lake Michigan.
The final and tragic event for the George B. Sloan occurred on October 29, 1885, when it sank at the harbor entrance in Oswego, New York, in Lake Ontario. During a gale, the schooner was driven onto the breakwater and broke up. One life was lost in the incident.
