The Roby Foundry in Rainhill supplied orders to Laird Brothers Ltd. (later Cammell Laird) of Birkenhead in 1893 for the construction of this yacht. It was the largest steam yacht in the world at the time and was built for William Kissam Vanderbilt, for a time the richest man in the United States. His daughter Consuela married the 9th Duke of Marlborough, cousin of Winston Churchill.