The SS America was built at Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, 1854-55. Original Owner: Great Western RR Company. Rebuilt by Samuel Sneeden, Greenpoint, 1858. New Owner: Peter A. Hargous. Name changed to Coatzocoalcos in 1859. Chartered to the Quartermaster s Department, War Department in 1861 and 1862 from $1200 to $1400 per day. Name changed to America in 1862. Operated from New York to San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua for the Central American Transit Company. Her last sailing from San Francisco for the Transit Company was on February 15, 1868. The America burned at San Juan del Sur on April 11, 1869.
Of interest is that Samuel Clemens / Mark Twain boarded the "America" in San Francisco, steamed to Nicaragua, arriving on December 30,1866