The wooden steamer Thomas Friant was built by Duncan Robertson & Company in Grand Haven, Michigan, in 1884. Thomas Friant ran freight and passenger service between Michigan's Lower Peninsula communities. The ship had little issue in its initial year of work. On January 1885, the steamer became trapped in ice for several days, forcing the passengers and crew to catch fish in order to avoid starvation. Thomas Friant participated in a steamboat race against the Lucille on October 15, 1890. As the Thomas Friant was gaining on the Lucille, the two boats collided, and when the Thomas Friant attempted to steer away, the captain of the Lucille swung around and rammed into the port side of the Thomas Friant. The ship's range of work expanded during the 1890s to include trips to Chicago, Mackinaw Island, and Beaver Island. At the turn of the 21st Century, Thomas Friant engaged with excursions to L'Anse, Michigan, a popular resort and picnicking spot; it hosted various bands on board and took on a wide variety of passengers. Thomas Friant continued to frequent a variety of locations with excursion work until December 22, 1908, when it caught fire and burned to its water line. The origin of the fire is unknown, and the vessel was declared a total loss.

The ship was rebuilt as a fishing tug in 1910 by the Hickler Brothers. Little is known about Thomas Friant's operational history throughout the 1910s. There was an attempt to return the ship to freighting and passenger work for the 1920s. The vessel's owners at the time, Einar Miller and Halvor A. Reiten, planned on making Thomas Friant the first vessel on Lake Superior to attempt year-round service; however, this venture was not profitable, and the steamer returned to fishing work.
On January 2, 1924, Thomas Friant became trapped in an ice floe off Bark Bay, in Lake Superior. The crew opted to stay on the ship, as the vessel blew across the lake with the ice floe overnight. Pressure from the ice opened up a hole in the hull which could not be repaired from the inside. A crewmember attempting to stuff a blanket into the hole from the outside which was also unsuccessful. The ship was subsequently abandoned and the crew took the lifeboat. Realizing that they had left a crewmember behind, they were forced to row back and retrieved the missing man. The men proceeded to row throughout the night to the safety Minnesota's North Shore.
In 2004, Ken Merryman, Jerry Eliason, Kraig Smith, and Randy Beebe found what was thought to be the freighter Robert Wallace. After additional research, they realized the vessel was actually the Thomas Friant. Video data of the shipwreck was collected later that same year. The wreck site was surveyed in April 2018 by Wisconsin Historical Society volunteers and archaeologists, along with ROV pilots from Crossmon Consulting LLC.