She served two years in the Boston service before being sold to the San Francisco Pilots' Opposition Line in October 1861.

[1] She replaced the pilot boat Daniel Webster, that served the San Francisco fleet until 1862 when she was driven ashore.

[1][3] The Curtis was wrecked inside the shipping Bonita Channel outside Golden Gate Bridge on April 11, 1867, attempting to cross the bar on her way to relieve the pilot boat J. C. Cousins.

Just over the bar we encountered a heavy norwester' and were blown down past the Seal rocks in a hurry...

On October 3, 1867, the Curtis put a pilot aboard the clipper Andrew Jackson as she entered the Golden Gate.

He was the captain and supercargo of the merchant boat and planned a trip to Tahiti and the south sea islands.

[12] On August 25, 1898, the Caleb Curtis was in San Francisco and was on her way to Alaska with a party of gold hunters from Hong Kong.

[14] In the 1930s, a half-model was made by G. W. Ekelund, that showed the Curtis's curved forefoot, and long straight keel and vertical stern.