The ship was built by William Dobson and Company in Walker Yard for the Goole Steam Shipping Company and launched on 12 June 1888.[3] The engines were manufactured by the Wallsend Slipway and Engineering Company, and she was constructed under the supervision of Mr Sisson, the inspecting engineer for the Goole Company.[4]
On 19 September 1898 she was hit by her sister ship Dresden which was inward bound to Goole.[5]
In October 1908 she was in collision with the British brigantine Enterprise of Folkestone, and caused her to sink. All hands on the Enterprise bar one were lost.[6]
On 28 August 1912 she was anchored midstream in Goole waiting to enter the lock, when a strong southerly wind caused her to sheer into her sister ship Ralph Creyke which was outbound with a full cargo of coal. Derwent’s anchor chain became caught in Ralph Creyke’s propeller and her engines were stopped. The accident required Ralph Creyke to be drydocked to remove the chain.[7]