[1] Catala began her first voyage for the company on July 28, 1925, steaming north from Vancouver to Prince Rupert and the Skeena and Nass rivers.

[1] Like her sister ship, the Cardena, Catala spent most of her operating career from 1925 to 1958 on the British Columbia Coast, carrying coastal freight and passengers.

[7] On November 8, 1927, at 1:00 pm, on a south-bound trip originating from Stewart, British Columbia, Catala had left Port Simpson bound for Prince Rupert through the southern channel on the inside of Finlayson Island.

[8] Captain Alfred E. Dickson ordered the lifeboats lowered immediately, and with the aid of local people of the First Nations and their canoes, all passengers were taken off the ship and reached safety at Port Simpson, without loss.

The company gave up the ship as lost, and abandoned her to the insurance underwriters, who then assumed responsibility for the salvage efforts.

In 1963 she was brought back north to Ocean Shores, Washington and used as a boatel again until she was driven aground by a storm on New Year's Day 1965.

[10] Following her grounding, efforts to re-float Catala failed, and the wreck was left to decay at the beach on Damon Point, Washington.

Over the years she was vandalized and pillaged, and in the late 1980s a girl fell through a rusted portion of her deck, breaking her back.

The State of Washington Department of Ecology cordoned off the wreck and removed 34,500 US gallons (131,000 L) of heavy fuel oil before scrapping the rest of the ship.