She made her maiden voyage from Liverpool to New York on 10 September 1881, at the end of the normal trans-Atlantic crossing season.

On 4 February 1882, she began her service under charter to the Occidental and Oriental Steamship Company for their San Francisco-Hong Kong route, departing Liverpool for Hong Kong via the Suez Canal, after which she sailed to San Francisco to begin her trans-Pacific service.

On 2 June 1884, she arrived in Hong Kong via Yokohama with a damaged propeller, which necessitated her being dry-docked before returning to San Francisco.

She returned to the UK in 1886 and made one Australian voyage for Occidental & Oriental (London-Melbourne-Sydney, via Cape Town) on 26 October of that year.

She completed her charter upon returning to London early in 1887, after which she sailed to Belfast to have 50 second-class ("intermediate-class") berths installed.