The Cartela (the Tasmanian Aboriginal name for a bull seal) was built in 1912 at Battery Point, Hobart, by Purdon & Featherstone for the Huon Channel and Peninsula Steamship Company.

That was achieved by fitting the vessel with a powerful triple-expansion steam engine (500 indicated horsepower (370 kW)), and a large-capacity boiler that allowed lengthy periods of operation at maximum speed without losing pressure - a problem faced by both its predecessor and chief rival the 152-long-ton (154 t) Togo.

It occasionally performed other duties, including a voyage across Bass Strait to Melbourne during a seamen's strike in 1919, and acting as a tug, before dedicated tug-boats were employed in Hobart after World War II.

One significant tow was the rescue of the dismasted barque Inverness-shire, a vessel more than ten times its size, from Storm Bay to Hobart in 1915.

Improved road services connecting outlying regions of south-eastern Tasmania brought an end to commercial river steamer services, so by the 1950s, the vessel was almost exclusively engaged in excursion work around Hobart for new owners Roche Brothers In 1958, Cartela was extensively altered, being converted from a steamship to a motor vessel.

In recognition of it being one of the very few timber vessels that has remained in continuous commercial service for a century, in 2016 it was announced that it would undergo a complete renovation and be returned to steam power.