Built for use on the Thames for the London (Tilbury) to Boulogne service, La Marguerite was a large (over 330 feet in length), sumptuously fitted out and fast (20 knots) steamer. She was the first steamer that could go from the Thames to France and back in the same day and was hugely popular with her passengers. Unfortunately her operating costs were exhorbitant and despite her popularity she was never profitable for her owners.
After ten years she was sold to the Liverpool and North Wales Steamship Co. Ltd., where coal and labour were cheaper, for use on the Liverpool, Llandudno and Menai Bridge service.

She was requisitioned for use by the Admiralty as a transport ship during the First World War. Her speed proved invaluable during the Great War when (c1918) she was used for transporting troops across the English Channel. She was given ‘dazzle-ship’ camouflage, designed by Norman Wilkinson, to confuse enemy submarines.

In 1919 she was chartered by the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company for one season, after which she returned to her old Liverpool and Menai Bridge route. She was broken up at Briton Ferry by Wards in 1925.