[1] He graduated from the United States Naval Academy and was promoted to passed midshipman on 12 June 1855,[2] to master on 16 September 1855,[2] and to lieutenant on 27 December 1856.

On 2 February 1865 he detained the schooner Ben Willis, sailing under British colors, with a cargo of bales of cotton.

Nine crewmen were taken prisoner, one being her commander Joseph F. Stevenson, who claimed to be a lieutenant of the Confederate Navy, but was suspected by Erben of being a privateer.

[2] Rear Admiral Erben retired on 6 September 1894,[2] but returned to active duty between April and July 1898[8] when he was placed in command of the Patrol Fleet, which guarded the coast of the United States from Galveston, Texas, to Bar Harbor, Maine, during the Spanish–American War.

After the death of his father, who was one of the early German settlers in Pennsylvania, Peter moved to New York City, where he became an organ builder, and was also organist in Trinity parish from 1807 until 1839.