The iron three-masted Eastern Monarch was built by Mounsey & Foster of Sunderland for J. Patton & Co. of London in 1874. Registered at 1,769 tons, she measured 256½ feet in length with a 40 foot beam, and was classified 100Al by Lloyd's surveyors at Liverpool where she was registered. Originally intended to trade from Sunderland to New Zealand, she was sold within a year to the Royal Exchange Shipping Co. of London who operated her for at least ten years. By 1896 she was owned by R.Thomas & Co. and on 28 October that year, she was abandoned in mid-Atlantic whilst en route form Swansea to Callao (Peru) with a cargo of coal.