Raven was ordered by the Ullswater Steam Navigation Company, a predecessor of the current owners.

Seath & Co. at Rutherglen near Glasgow, and transported overland from there to Ullswater, where she was launched on 11 July 1889.

She was commissioned at the suggestion of Thomas Cook, in response to the growing popularity of Ullswater as a tourist destination, and because the previous year a breakdown of Lady of the Lake forced the cancellation of services.

She was named after Ravencragg, the lakeside home of company director William Hugh Parkin.

[2][4] In 1912, Raven was made a temporary royal yacht when the German Emperor Wilhelm II visited Ullswater during his stay with the 5th Earl of Lonsdale at Lowther Castle.