The Phipps was used to haul bulk cargoes such as iron ore, coal, grain and occasionally limestone.

The Henry Phipps (official number 204136) was a product of the West Bay City Shipbuilding Company (F.W.

[1] She was commissioned by the Pittsburgh Steamship Company (a subsidiary of United States Steel Corporation) of Cleveland, Ohio.

On August 13, 1909, the Phipps "sideswiped" another 600-foot long laker, the Daniel J. Morrell in heavy fog in Whitefish Bay.

[5] On September 22, 1911 the Phipps rammed and sank the 284-foot-long (87 m) steel-hulled freighter Joliet off Port Huron, Michigan in the St. Clair River.