In 1898 the Ward Line ordered two ships from William Cramp & Sons Shipbuilding Company in Philadelphia as part of a modernization plan in response to increased passenger and freight demand.

[4] She soon joined the company's steamers linking New York with Nassau, Havana, and Mexican Gulf ports.

It also ran a Central American line of steamships linking Nicaragua, Costa Rica, San Salvador, and Guatemala to Panama City.

One crew member was lost when he went below to retrieve his lucky horseshoe, but the other 153 people on board – 39 passengers and 114 crewmen – made it off and survived.

[7] In 1998 shipwreck historian Steve Lloyd researched the testimony from the Marine Board of Inquiry hearing that had been conducted after the sinking of Aleutian.

Reconstructing testimony given by Aleutian's officers he estimated the course of the ship just before the pinnacle rock had inflicted its mortal blow.

In 2002 he began a side-scan sonar and a magnetometer search of the sea floor beginning at the rock that had sunk the ship.

The depth, current, and low visibility of her resting place makes her accessible only to experienced deep-wreck divers with advanced training and certification.