[1][2][3] James Magee and Thomas Handasyd Perkins were inspired to build the Margaret and invest in the maritime fur trade after meeting Robert Gray of the Columbia Rediviva, and possibly John Kendrick of the Lady Washington, in Guangzhou (Canton) and Macau in the 1789–1790 winter.

The crew included the "historian" Jonathan Howell who, with Magee, collected many artifacts from the Pacific Northwest Coast and the Hawaiian Islands for the Massachusetts Historical Society.

[1][3] On 24 October 1791 the Margaret sailed from Boston to the Pacific Northwest coast via Cape Horn, arriving at Houston Stewart Channel in Haida Gwaii in April 1792.

Like other traders at the time, Magee found the trade goods he had brought were no longer much desired by the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast.

"[1] Robert Haswell, of the Columbia Rediviva wrote that the Margaret was "as fine a vessel as ever I saw of her size, and appeared exceeding well fitted for the voyage and I believe there was no expense spared.

Returning north, on 8 August 1792 the Margaret anchored at Yuquot and the Spanish outpost Santa Cruz de Nuca in Nootka Sound, in company with the Hope, under Joseph Ingraham.

On 12 August the Margaret, under David Lamb, sailed in company with the Hope to search for fur trading opportunities.

When George Vancouver arrived at Nootka Sound on 28 August and noted that Captain Magee was living on shore with his surgeon and John Howell.

Sometime during the season, the Margaret struck a rock in Hecate Strait, southeast of Rose Point, Haida Gwaii.

[3] Magee had intended to have the Margaret spend the winter in Nootka Sound, and to build a small schooner to act as a tender for the 1793 season.

Sailing south in the Margaret, Magee obtained a quantity of clemmons at Barkley Sound and the Washington coast.

Magee returned north and sold the hides "at the rate of 3 prime [sea otter] skins for the best sort [of clemmon] & 2 for the second".

[8] Between the Margaret and the schooner, over 3,000 sea otter pelts were collected in 1793, a remarkable feat given that there were at least ten competing ships.

[3] At the end of the 1793 trading season the Margaret sailed to China via Hawaii, arriving at Oahu in October and Canton in December 1793.