The ship was built by Charles Connell Shipyard at Glasgow, on the Clyde in 1868. Owned by J. Findlay & Co, Glasgow she was a tea clipper travelling regularly to China, sailing to Shanghai, Foo-Chow, Yokohama and Hong Kong. She was bought by Kerr & Co in 1881 and altered to a barque rig. In 1885 the ‘Windhover’ was wrecked when she hit a sunken reef on the Torres Strait NSW laden with coal for Batavia, although all on board survived.