On her maiden voyage, she was extensively damaged by a storm in the English Channel during October 1891. After repair, she left in early November and arrived in Auckland on 12 March 1892.[2][3]>[4]
On 11 September 1920, Southern Cross sailed from Melbourne for Hobart with a general cargo including 1,000 cases of benzine stored on its main deck. On 22 September, a large quantity of wreckage was found on the north coast of King Island. Further searches found wreckage around the island with a concentration at the southern end. As the wreckage bore traces of burning, it was speculated that the ship's deck cargo had caught fire, or that it had struck a mine laid by the German raider Wolff in 1917.[6][7][8]
The following personnel were reportedly lost in the wrecking - Frank Rule Hodgman, master; T. Watts, mate; C.F. Makepeace, boatswain; D. Dinehy, able seaman; W. O'Connell, able seaman; L. Sward, able seaman; W. Moody, able seaman; Wm. Brown, cook & steward and Stanley Bell, cabin boy.[9]