The liner Aleutian was built in Philadelphia in 1898 as the SS Havana . Three hundred seventy-five feet long with a 50-foot beam, the iron-hulled vessel was operated by the New York and Cuba Steamship Company until 1905. In August of that year, the ship was sold and renamed SS Panama . For nearly 22 years the 5,708-ton ship steamed the Atlantic route between New York and Panama.
In February 1927 the Panama was purchased by the Alaska Steamship Company and moved to Pacific service. Renamed Aleutian after the string of volcanic islands that make up Alaska's southwest coastline, the vessel received an extensive refit in Seattle before entering the company's Alaska trade with regular freight, passenger and mail service between Seattle and points northward.
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