In 1833, William Lee and Isabella spent the season in company and stayed on in the region after the other vessels there had left.

In late 1837, William Lee took a cargo that included cotton from New Orleans and sailed for St Petersburg.

Captain Shepherd presented documents that showed that the cotton had left New Orleans months before the notice, and that it had passed through Liverpool without incident.

The newspaper report suggested that the difference in treatment was due to there being a Russian representative on the Danish customs board.

[11] [b] The opening in 1836 of the Hull Flax and Cotton Mill subsequently led her owners to send William Lee on several voyages to Calcutta.

[14][15] However, Joseph Rylands, the manager of Hull Flax and Cotton Mill, developed an associated fleet of sailing ships.

William Lee, Captain Thomas Sykes, was driven ashore and damaged on 5 December 1847 on Öland, near Åkerby, Sweden.