The poet, Percy Bysshe Shelley was sailing from Leghorn to Spezia on 18 July 1822 when the boat capsized and Shelley together with his friend Edward Williams was drowned.

The boat was built under the supervision of Captain John Charles Gawen Roberts at Genoa and has been described as either a schooner or brigantine. She was ordered from Captain Roberts by Shelley in partnership with his friends, Edward Williams and John Trelawney.

Trelawney proposed calling her Don Juan but, before she was delivered, the partnership of the three men was dissolved, and Shelley bought her for £80, calling her Ariel.