She was launched on December 1, 1888, by the Leavitt-Storer shipyard of Waldoboro, Maine, United States, and was named for Oliver Ames (then the Governor of Massachusetts).

The schooner's first voyage, in ballast to Baltimore, Maryland, resulted in disaster on December 11, 1888, when the foremast snapped in high winds, taking the other masts with it and dismasting the Governor Ames completely.

[3] Refloated and towed to port, the vessel was remasted with shorter masts,[4] following which it sailed from Maine to Buenos Aires in Argentina with a cargo of 1,896,000 board feet (4,470 m3) of spruce and pine lumber valued at $29,868, believed to be the largest or second largest cargo ever taken by an American vessel at the time.

Returning to the waters of the Eastern United States via Cape Horn once more, she entered the coal trade finally in Fall 1894.

[6] With assistance from the tug Childs and other schooners and the jettisoning of 200 short tons (180 t) of coal, the Governor Ames was refloated the next afternoon without major damage.