The iron-hulled, single-screw steam yacht Utowana was completed in 1883 at Chester, Pennsylvania, by the Delaware River Iron Ship Building and Engine Works for Washington Everett Connor. On sale to Elias Cornelius Benedict the yacht's name was changed to Oneida (1887), then when Benedict bought a new yacht to be named Oneida and sale of the old yacht and conversion to a tow boat the name was changed to Adelante (1913). During Benedict's ownership Oneida was the covert site of an operation on President Grover Cleveland, a friend of Benedict's and frequent guest on the yacht, to remove a cancerous tumor in his mouth.