[5] After completion of sea trials the tanker was transferred to her owners and departed for her maiden trip on the same day to Palo Blanco, one of a few large oil storage facility on the Mexican Gulf coast, near Tamiahua.

Brown continued carrying crude oil between the Mexican ports of Puerto Lobos, Tuxpan and Tampico and New York through the end of September 1922.

[6] The tanker passed through the Panama Canal on November 8 on her first trip to San Pedro and again on her return journey on December 3 with 10,000 tons of oil destined for New York.

For example, she made eight round-trip journeys between August 1924 and July 1925 season each time carrying approximately 10,000 tons of crude oil on her eastward trips.

During the rest of 1929 the tanker made two trips from the West coast transporting gasoline from California to New York and Baltimore, before returning to carrying oil from the Gulf ports in early April 1930.

In April 1931 the tanker saved three passengers from a disabled motorboat who were drifting for 13 days without much food or water after their vessel broke down on their trip from Bimini to Miami.

Brown came to the aid of sinking schooner Alice Tebb after her seams came undone in rough weather off Georgia coast, about 100 miles northeast of Jacksonville.

The vessel was under command of captain Aksel Andersen and had a crew of eight officers and thirty one men in addition to sixteen Naval guards.

The resulting explosion killed two crew members, and set the vessel on fire immediately, destroying the main mast and the antenna, preventing her radio operator from sending a distress call.

Later in the day on May 23 the two lifeboats were spotted by a patrol plane from the Upham Naval Air Station, who took five injured men on board and brought them to a hospital at Key West.