One of the oldest yards was that of Sime & Rankine, who in July 1823 delivered the paddle-steamer Quentin Durward to R. Ogilvie and G. Crichton of Leith.

The ship's first recorded voyage with passengers—in August 1823—was the long journey North and West from Leith via Aberdeen, Inverness, the Caledonian Canal, Fort William, Tobermory, Staffa, Giant's Causeway, Coleraine, Campbeltown and Kyles of Bute to Glasgow.

Apparently, no sale took place, and in September 1823 the Quentin Durward made another long journey with passengers, this time from Greenock via Dublin, Plymouth and Portsmouth to Brighton.

In spite of his naval rank, Christensen—his first name also spelled Lauritz—had not done active service since 1814, and his status as a reservist had enabled him to do business in the East Indies from 1816 until 1826.

[4][5] On 8 June 1827 Christensen put an advert in Den til Forsendelse med de Kongelige Rideposter privilegerede Danske Statstidende to announce that he had bought the steamship, which featured "30 ready-made beds" and new copper sheeting.

On arrival at Aalborg, Christensen arranged an extra trip on the Limfjorden, giving the local citizens a chance to assess the ship.

[10] In the preceding years, the Royal Danish Postal Service had worked against the new faster passenger routes, out of fear that the travellers and employees would smuggle letters along, thereby undermining the business.

Illustrations of the Dania with a flag sporting the monogram of the Danish king, was a result of this arrangement, signifying a ship on official postal duty.

On the trip to and from Aalborg on 11 to 14 August, the Dania suffered so much in the storm that the journey to Aarhus on the 15th had to be cancelled "as both the machinery and the crew needed at couple of days' rest to get back in full shape".

[13] Based on that experience, Christensen soon cancelled all further trips to Aalborg, and from September Dania would only sail once a week, alternating between Aarhus and Fredericia.