Perhaps the first ship to bear the name Ravenscraig (with an "i") was a 581 to 589 tons, 140 feet long, wooden sailing ship, sheathed in copper, that was built in 1853 in South Shields, England, and owned by Lockart & Co. Though registered in Kirkcaldy, Scotland, it was employed initially in the Australian and New Zealand wool trade, and was still in service in 1865 when shipping agents Levin & Co. and Bethune & Hunter ran ads advertising passage from New Zealand to London.