Designed to outclass their chief rivals from the British-owned Cunard Line, Baltic and her three sister ships—Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic—were the largest, fastest and most luxurious transatlantic steamships of their day.

Baltic subsequently operated as a coastal steamer along the East Coast of the United States, and later served as a transport for the Union cause during the American Civil War before briefly returning to transatlantic service.

[2] In 1847, the U.S. Congress granted a large subsidy to the New York and Liverpool United States Mail Steamship Company for the establishment of an American steam packet service to compete with Britain's Cunard Line.

Like her three sister ships, Baltic had straight stems, a single smokestack, three square-rigged masts for auxiliary power, and a flat main deck with two single-story cabins, one fore and one aft.

Here the managers of the Line broke with the generally austere tradition of oceangoing steamships of the era to spend extravagant sums on fittings and passenger comforts.

The saloons were richly carpeted, furnished with variegated Italian marble tables and superior quality furniture, and finished in a combination of woods, including rose, satin and olive.

[7][10] On the main deck above, the foredeck cabin included the officers' quarters, a first-class kitchen complete with French maitré de cuisine, and, in another innovation, a barber's shop, with patented adjustable chair.

After a careful study of the powerplants of the Cunard Line, Baltic was fitted with a pair of 96-inch cylinder, 10-foot stroke side-lever engines built by the Allaire Iron Works of New York.

Steam was supplied by four vertical tubular boilers with a double row of furnaces, designed by the Line's chief engineer, John Faron.

From 28 June to July 7, 1854, Baltic set a new Blue Riband record with a passage from Liverpool to New York of 9 days, 16 hours and 52 minutes at an average speed of 13.04 knots.

[13] On 27 September 1854, Baltic's sister ship Arctic suffered a collision with the French screw-steamer Vesta and sank with heavy loss of life.

Baltic and Atlantic continued to service this route until March 1860 when they were again laid up, as the company had been unsuccessful in its bid to secure a mail subsidy from the government.

[8][18] After the war, Baltic and Atlantic were both purchased by Ruger Brothers & Associates, whose directors included William H. Webb and E. W. Barstow, to operate for the newly established North American Lloyd Line.