The ship was ordered during the Civil War by James Dunwoody Bulloch for the Confederate States of America as a blockade breaker with Laird Brothers in England . In March 1865, the ship was launched under the name Penguin . Payment should be made via cotton delivery. As the war ended soon afterwards, a new buyer was sought. Greece bought the paddle steamer in 1867 for £ 14,000 in support of the freedom struggle in Crete . He was transferred to Greece together with the steamer Bouboulina . However, he arrived too late at the destination.
The ship was finally converted into the royal yacht of George I in 1869. In 1872 the Amphitriti was overhauled and equipped with new boilers. From 1892 it served as a residential hulk at the Greek naval base on Salamis , was decommissioned in 1906 and sold in 1909.
