[1] Named after President Thomas Jefferson's Secretary of the Treasury, the Gallatin was laid down by the David Bell Company at Buffalo, New York, in 1871 and commissioned in 1874.

On 4 October 1873, a sea trial of the reconstructed Fowler steering propeller proved to be uneconomical failure and a contract to make alterations was negotiated in March 1874.

She cruised the United States East Coast from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to Holmes Hole, Massachusetts.

Captain Gabrielson also skippered USRC Dexter when it came to the aid of City of Columbus which wrecked off Martha's Vineyard.

She sank on 6 January 1892, off the northwest side of Boohoo Ledge in the Atlantic Ocean off Manchester, Maine, United States, with the loss of one life.