She was the brainchild of the eccentric but far-seeing naval officer Captain (later Admiral) Charles Napier, who had conceived the idea of a fleet of steamships for service on the River Seine.

The ship was named after the master of the Horseley Ironworks, Tipton, Staffordshire, where she was pre-fabricated to a design jointly formulated by Captain Napier, Aaron Manby and his son Charles.

Defying the prevailing wisdom of the day, the iron-hulled vessel not only floated but made 9 knots (10 mph; 17 km/h) and drew one foot (30 cm) less water than any other steamboat then operating.

[1][2] After trials in May 1822, Aaron Manby crossed the English Channel to Le Havre under Napier's command on 10 June, at an average speed of 8 knots (9.2 mph; 15 km/h), carrying passengers and freighted with a cargo of linseed and iron castings.

On the failure of Napier's enterprise through bankruptcy in 1827 (after he had financed the building of five similar iron steamships) she was sold to a French consortium ("Compagnie des bateaux a vapeur en fer") who operated her on the River Loire until she was broken up in 1855.