The 2,949 GRT steamship Amsterdam was built by A. McMillan & Sons Ltd. built in Dumbarton , Scotland , and launched on the River Clyde on December 17, 1879 . The iron- built ship was 100.61 m long, 11.81 m wide and had two masts , a chimney and a single propeller . She was the sister ship of the Edam (I) (2,950 GRT), also built by McMillan , which entered service in October 1881 and sank on September 21, 1882 after a collision near Sandy Hook (two dead).
It was the shipping company's first ship with this name (the second and third followed in 1887 and 2000, respectively). The ship could carry 52 passengers in first and 648 in second class. The ship was propelled by a two-cylinder compound steam engine from David Rowan & Company from Port Glasgow , which produced an output of 1500 PSi ("indicated horsepower") and enabled a cruising speed of 10 knots. On March 27, 1880, the Amsterdam ran from Rotterdam under the command of Captain Jan Taat on her maiden voyage to New York . (Taat later also commanded the sister ship Edam and the WA Scholten ). On April 29, 1882, she drove for the first time from Amsterdam to New York.
On July 19, 1884, the Amsterdam ran under the command of Captain TM Lucas with 59 crew members and 224 passengers on board in Amsterdam for another crossing to New York. On Wednesday, July 30, 1884, the steamer ran aground on a sandbar about 15 miles off Sable Island on the coast of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia in thick fog and at full speed. Two passengers (a man and a woman) and a male crew member were killed when one of the lifeboats overturned. The survivors arrived in Halifax on the evening of August 6, 1884 , on board the Canadian ship Newfield . The wreck of the Amsterdam was sold for demolition on October 26, 1884.
