The ship was built by the J & W Dudgeon of Cubitt Town, London for the Great Eastern Railway and launched on 23 April 1864.[2] She was launched by Miss Alice Goodson, eldest daughter of the chairman of the Great Eastern Railway Company. Zealous was the first of a trio of new vessels, and inaugurated the GER's passenger services from Harwich to both Rotterdam and Antwerp in 1865, later joined by Avalon and Ravensbury.[3]
Zealous was altered in 1866 to carry cargo as well as passengers, and she was re-boilered in 1873.[3] On 8 August 1875, she ran aground at Harwich, then refloated.[4] She was withdrawn from service in 1887 and broken up.[3]
References
^Duckworth, Christian Leslie Dyce; Langmuir, Graham Easton (1968). Railway and other Steamers. Prescot, Lancashire: T. Stephenson and Sons.