She was built in 1894 at South Shields-on-Tyne, England, by John Readhead & Sons and was acquired by the U.S. Navy early in 1898 from L. F. Chapman & Company.

With the Spanish–American War underway, in June 1898 Brutus departed San Diego, California, towing Monterey bound for Manila Bay in the Philippines to reinforce Admiral George Dewey's Asiatic Fleet.

On 16 April, the collier put to sea on the long voyage around Cape Horn to Samoa, in the South Pacific.

She made stops at San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Montevideo, Uruguay, and arrived in Tutuila on 11 July.

Except for one round-trip voyage to Culebra Island near Puerto Rico between 5 and 19 December, Brutus operated in the Chesapeake Bay area until late January 1903.

Worked by a merchant crew made up of Chinese nationals, she carried coal to various units of the Navy's squadron in the Orient.

[1] In 1907, the collier returned to the United States and began operations out of Norfolk, Virginia, in support of the Atlantic Fleet.

Except for two periods in reserve at the Norfolk Navy Yard, 13 May 1908 to 2 January 1909 and 20 May to 2 July 1912, and a resupply voyage to the Mediterranean Sea in 1915, that employment occupied her time until the spring of 1916.

In April 1916, Brutus transferred to the Pacific Fleet and operated from the Mare Island Navy Yard.

When the worldwide influenza epidemic struck late in 1918, Brutus loaded supplies and stores and headed for Alaska as part of a Red Cross relief expedition.

Early in 1920, the collier voyaged from the west coast to Tutuila, Samoa, carrying coal and supplies to the naval station located there.

Later that spring she returned via Hawaii to the west coast and resumed her duties with the Pacific Fleet Train.