Incorporators included William H. Aspinwall, Edwin Bartlett (American consul at Lima, Peru and also involved with the Panama Railroad Company),[1] Henry Chauncey, Mr. Alsop, G.G.

[2] At first, the federal mail subsidy program served a second objective: the establishment of civilian steamships which could be easily converted to warships or privateers during times of war.

His dual mandate was letting federal mail contracts and overseeing the construction of the steamers to ensure that they would be suitable for conversion to warships.

In accordance to Polk’s aggressive program for developing Oregon, Congress passed more specific laws in for mail subsidies early in 1847.

[2] Secretary Mason set the terms for the Pacific mail contract: a steamer would be required to sail from Panama to Astoria, Oregon in thirty days or less.

Just days later, Harris assigned the mail contract to William H. Aspinwall, who brought in three partners: Edwin Bartlett, Henry Chauncey, and Gardiner Greene Howland.

[3] The company initially believed it would be transporting agricultural goods from the West Coast, but just as operations began, gold was found in the Sierra Nevada, and business boomed almost from the start.

[4]: 13 [5] Also for the Pacific Mail, Marcucci next converted the 153 ton side-wheel steamboat El Dorado that had been rigged as a 3 masted schooner for the trip around Cape Horn, to be used for the Sacramento run.

Subsequently in March 1850, for the same company, he assembled the Georgiana, a small 30 ton side-wheel steamboat made in Philadelphia, knocked down and sent by sea also for the Sacramento run.

While docked at San José de Guatemala, the Pacific Mail steamship SS Acapulco was involved in the Barrundia Affair of 1890.