 The 115-foot schooner-rigged steamer was named for Margaret Ann, wife of the former governor of Newfoundland, Sir John Le Marchant (British Army officer, born 1803).Later, the vessel joined the United States Revenue Cutter Service as "Miami" and after a short stint touring federal officials along Mid-Atlantic waterways via its two-cylinder oscillating steam engine, President Abraham Lincoln employed it to conduct a reconnaissance that led to the surrender of Norfolk and destruction of the Confederate battleship, .By 1860, Austin was an assistant keeper at the Harbour Grace Island lighthouse  and promoted to head keeper upon the death of his brother Edward in 1862, although Oke preferred to have his son relocated to a less dangerous post.