However, White Star decided to abandon this route shortly after, and she was transferred to the Liverpool-New York run, making her first voyage on 10 July 1873.

On 15 January 1874, while making an eastbound crossing, she came to the assistance of the larger White Star ship SS Celtic when the latter vessel lost her propeller blades after striking wreckage in the Irish Sea.

After the Britannic and Germanic entered service in 1874 and 1875, the new, faster and larger vessels made all previous White Star ships redundant, including Gaelic.

She was put on the San Francisco-Yokohama-Hong Kong run and was caught in a gale on 20 November, which damaged the after part of her wheelhouse and blew away her trysail.

On 11 May 1883, while steaming from San Francisco to Hong Kong, Gaelic put into the Chinese port of Hankow after losing her propeller shaft; she was likely forced to complete her voyage under sail.