The LE NAPOLEON II was built in 1851 in Medford, Mass. with a tonnage of 764 tons. It had an impressive length of 140 feet, a beam of  31 feet and a depth of 22 feet. The Napoleon was bought and moved to Sarpsborg, Norway. In 1869 the Napoleon departed from Christiania for Quebec.  She was sailing in ballast, and was carrying 346 passengers. An outbreak of measles took the lives of  eight passengers. When the ship arrived to the quarantine station at Grosse, fifteen were sick. The Napoleon was mastered by J. Ammundsen, and had a crew of 18.