Reg. No. 67348, an iron screw steamer of 952 gross register tons, she was built by W. Doxford & Co. in 1873 in Sunderland, owned by W. E. Kirby and belonged to the port of Newcastle, England. She had a length of 208.9 feet, a breadth of 29.2 feet, a depth of 17.2 feet and 90hp.
Departing from and arriving in South Shields, near Newcastle upon Tyne, each time with a cargo of coal, John George Brew served on her for several voyages. As a 25 year old 2nd Engineer, at a rate of £2 15s. per week, he sailed from 11 to 28 May 1875 on a voyage to Hamburg, from 1-29 June 1875 to St. Nazaire, Cardiff and Dieppe, and from 1 July to 8 November 1875 to St. Nazaire, Cardiff, Dieppe, Helder (?), and Hamburg. His general conduct and seamanship were rated "VG" (very good) on the crew agreements.
John George then left the ship to complete his examination for his 2nd Class Engineer's Certificate of Competency, which he successfully passed and received on 3 December, numbered 12854. He returned to Nereid to join a voyage from 6 to 28 December 1875 to St. Nazaire which ended in Cardiff. He took a month's leave and rejoined Nereid in South Shields on 28 January 1876 for a voyage ending 21 February to the ports of St. Nazaire and Bremerhaven. John George left Nereid for another month's leave, during which time his third child and namesake, John George jnr., was conceived.
Leaving Nereid for a year, he then joined SS Copia as 2nd Engineer, before returning to Nereid once again as 2nd Engineer on a voyage from 3 March to 27 June 1877 to Rouen, St. Nazaire, Cardiff, Cronstadt and Rotterdam. Following this voyage, John George went to complete his examination for his 1st Class Engineer's Certificate of Competency in Newcastle, which he also successfully passed and was presented with on 4 August 1877.
After some leave, he joined SS San Domingo on 21 September for some 6 months, returning to Nereid for his 7th voyage with her, this time as 1st Engineer, for a voyage from 28 March to 20 July 1878 to Tonnay-Charente in France, Bilbao in Spain, and Bordeaux. He returned home to find that his 4 child, Thomas, had died, and took a month's leave but signed on with Nereid again from 22 August 1878 to 1 January 1879 on a voyage to Le Havre, St. Nazaire, Tonnay-Charente, Cardiff, and Bilbao, and from 6 January to 21 April 1879 to Pauillac in France, and Bilbao.
Nereid's crew agreements for 1873, 1876-1884, 1886, and 1889 are held by the Maritime History Archive in Canada. The agreements for 1875 are held by the National Maritime Museum, in Greenwich, and her agreements and logbooks for 21 July 1873 to 29 December 1874 are held at the Public Record Office, in Kew.