Though often referred to as a clipper, the full model Glory of the Seas was the last ship built by Donald McKay at his yard in East Boston. Her launch in October 1869, began a fifty-year career of service in heavy trade. Her 2009 tons had a carrying capacity of some 3000 tons which, much of the time, was coal. Her reputation for durability resulted from the particulary sturdy construction ordered by McKay and from the exceptional handling of her masters - Captain Knowles of Eastham, Massachusetts, followed by Captain Daniel McLaughlin.
In addition to her reputation for durability, the Glory of the Seas was widely known for her swiftness, holding the record times in her day for passages from San Francisco to Australia and from New York to San Francisco.
In her final days the glory that had been hers over her first thirty years suffered some tarnish. In 1911 she was sold by her then owners, Barneson & Hibbard, and converted into a floating salmon cannery. After being sold again, she was fitted with an ice plant and converted into a floating refrigeration unit for the storage of fish. She was burned for her metal near Endolyne, Washington, in 1923.