The vessel was named after Henry Bailey, a steamboat captain in the 1870s who lived in Ballard, Washington.

[1] Henry Bailey was built at Tacoma, Washington as the first vessel for the Pacific Navigation Company.

[1] The vessel was placed on a route which ran from Seattle to Snohomish, via Edmonds, Marysville, Mukilteo, Lowell.

[2][3] In 1898, at West Seattle, the upper works and the machinery were removed and reinstalled in a new vessel, the Skagit Queen.

Sam Denny, mate Peter Falk, Engineer Frank Zikmund, and purser Joshua Green.