Originally registered on 31 May in Quebec, she sailed to Great Britain and assumed British registry.

For the next year, she operated under charter to the British East India Company, carrying goods and passengers between London and Bengal.

[4] In 1828 the British government, at the urging of Captain James Stirling, decided to establish a colony at the Swan River in Western Australia.

Stirling, whom the government had appointed the civil superintendent of the colony,[5] however argued that the passengers and goods to be carried exceeded the capacity of Sulphur, and asked that an additional ship to be chartered.

Sulphur and Parmelia sailed from Spithead off Portsmouth, England on 3[6] or 6[7] February 1829, sighting their destination on 1 June.

Contrary to popular belief, Stirling did not captain Parmelia (J. H. Luscombe did[7]); on arrival, however, he assumed the duties of pilot.

He initially tried to enter Cockburn Sound through a passage that he had discovered in 1827, but was prevented by strong winds and a heavy swell.

By that time, she had lost her foreyard, rudder, windlass, spare spars, longboat and skiff, and was leaking at a rate of 4 inches (10 cm) per hour.

Parmelia then rode out a storm at anchor for three days before finally being brought to a safe anchorage.

She left Batavia on 5 March, reached Saint Helena on 17 May, and arrived back at Portsmouth on 8 August.

She was intended to run between Britain and Quebec, but on 1 May 1839,[2] as her refit was almost complete, a fire in Bank's Yard, at Frank's Queery, Cremyll, destroyed her.