Launched with great fanfare in 1872, Pennsylvania narrowly escaped destruction by hurricane in her first year of operation, but went on to enjoy a long and distinguished career.

Though soon outclassed by newer ships, she continued in operation for some 44 years, plying various transatlantic routes and later playing a role in the Alaskan gold rush and serving as a troopship during the Spanish–American War.

[1] The Railroad intended to utilize the vessels to bring European immigrants direct to Philadelphia, thus ensuring the company a steady stream of customers.

The company established an entirely new shipyard for construction of the vessels, serviced by its own blacksmith, engine, boiler and carpentry shops, as well as providing it with a 700-foot outfitting wharf.

[7] A short-lived shipbuilding boom in the early 1870s made it difficult for the Cramp shipyard to obtain iron plates and other materials, and the yard was also affected by shortages of skilled labor.

Piers, buildings and ships, including Pennsylvania herself, were decorated with patriotic bunting and flags of every description, and a vast crowd of sightseers thronged every available vantage point along the river, while others watched from the hundreds of boats large and small, many of which had been rented out as excursion vessels for the occasion.

At 10:12 am, William Cramp gave the order to cut the stays, and Pennsylvania slid down the ways and into the Delaware River to "the cheers of a vast throng, the blowing of a hundred steam whistles, and a salvo of artillery.

The voyage proved not without incident as the ship shed propeller blades during the transatlantic crossing, and she arrived at Liverpool under sail, after which she spent some time in drydock undergoing repairs.

Pennsylvania departed Liverpool for Philadelphia at 2:30pm February 21, 1874, with a typical small winter-passage complement of two saloon and twelve steerage-class passengers, and some $250,000 of cargo.

At around midnight, a mammoth wave slammed down upon the vessel, sweeping away all the lifeboats and liferafts, and breaking the foreboom and all four of the ship's forward hatches.

Brady had been the hero in the shipwreck of the SS Atlantic less than a year prior, where his courageous action in personally establishing a rope to shore was credited with saving as many as 250 lives.

Having just saved a $600,000 ship and its $250,000 cargo along with the passengers and crew from destruction, Brady felt insulted by a gift of just $1,000 offered by the American Steamship Company.

By this time, the ship was beginning to show her age in comparison with newer and more modern vessels, and she no longer carried first class passengers.

On April 11, 1898, Pennsylvania sailed from Philadelphia to San Francisco on the Pacific Ocean, where she was sold to the Empire Line[31] for service on the Seattle-Nome route.