The Washington made her first voyage in 1847. The vessel was said to be "the first American Atlantic liner and also one of the ugliest ships ever put afloat." (from Mail and Passenger Steamships of the Nineteenth Century by H. Parker)

On her first eastward voyage in June, written up in the Quebec Morning Chronicle of 1847, she turned out to be slow and "rolled rather than steamed along." The Illustrated London News also wrote about the Washington.