[1] The paddle steamer was built for a partnership led by Lewis MacLellan of Glasgow and A McTaggart of Campbeltown and intended, together with the similar Waterloo, for services between those two ports.

Initially though she ran from Glasgow to Tarbert and Inveraray, at the head of Loch Fyne, and only later in 1815 began serving Rothesay, Campbeltown and Helensburgh on a fortnightly basis.

[6][7] In 1822, under the name Glasgow and Londonderry Steam Packet Company, she began a regular service between those ports, with additional calls at Culmore, Quigley's Point, Moville, Greencastle and Portrush, which continued for seven years.

[2][6][9] En route to Glasgow with passengers and a cargo of wheat, she met a storm on Sunday 11 October on the Irish coast and put in to Donaghadee for shelter.

[10] All the passengers and crew were saved, as was half the cargo, but on 13 October further heavy storms reduced Britannia to a total wreck.