Built in Kingston, Ontario, Canada in 1853, the three-masted barque Arabia spent her early days in England and Scotland before returning to the Great Lakes for the rest of her working days. On 1 October 1884, loaded with 20,000 lbs of corn, she set sail from Chicago to Midland, Ontario. On 4 October she encountered a gale and, after 18 hard hours of fighting to keep her afloat, at around 3am on 5 October, the Captain gave the order and the crew scrambled onto a rowboat as she slipped into the depths just off Echo Island. The crew were rescued later that day and brought to Wiarton Ontario.

Unfortunately the crew never had the opportunity to meet Wiarton Willy while there, as it would be nearly a century before the community of Wiarton started using large rodents to prognosticate the coming of spring.