The location The George W. Elder was launched in 1874 at the Delaware River Iron Ship Building and Engine Works of John Roach & Sons in Chester, Pennsylvania and first served as a nightboat for the Old Dominion Steamship Company on the New York City to Chesapeake Bay route.

& N service, the George W. Elder served alongside the innovative Columbia, which was the first structure to use the incandescent light bulb outside Thomas Edison's laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey.

[4] On May 31, 1899, the George W. Elder set out of Seattle, Washington on a scientific exploration voyage to Russia, via British Columbia and Alaska.

After the Harriman Expedition, the United States Army drafted the George W. Elder in November 1899 for use as a troopship in the Philippines during the Spanish–American War.

In 1905 however, this reputation vanished, when the George W. Elder, now 31 years old, struck a rock along the Columbia River and sank under 16 ft (5 m) of water.

In a chance of coincidence, the George W. Elder was paired the SS Roanoke, which had also been built as a nightboat for the Old Dominion Steamship Company.

Both the George W. Elder and Roanoke arrived at the site of the disaster and picked up Columbia's survivors from the badly damaged San Pedro.

[6] By 1915, the North Pacific Steamship Company was struggling, due to the loss of their steamer Santa Clara on the bar of Coos Bay, Oregon, in 1914.

During World War I, the George W. Elder was leased by the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, which was at the time owned by the Grace Line.

At war's end, now 44 years old, the George W. Elder was sold to Artigas Riolrio Compania, based in Valparaiso, Chile, they were to be her last operators.