At the turn of the century, oysters were the chief fishery product of the United States. The most common large vessel type built to harvest oysters was the oyster sloop, a generic craft with some regional variation. There are now only three other oyster sloops known to survive and have been designated as National Historic Landmarks in the United States Modesty (1923); Hope (1948); and Priscilla (2006)

Christeen is the oldest surviving working example of an oyster sloop in the United States and an outstanding representative of the early form of the oyster sloop, a type that dates to the 1830s. Of all these vessels, Christeen best exemplifies the type and its employment. In her career Christeen fished, clammed, scalloped, freighted potatoes and furniture, and was a chartered excursion and sightseeing vessel, in short, "she did almost everything these ubiquitous sloops had done" in their long history.

Christeen was built in 1883 at Glenwood Landing on Long Island, for oysterman William W. Smith of Oyster Bay, New York. The vessel was licensed to work the offshore oyster beds of Long Island and to participate in the coasting trade in 1884. The sloop worked the oyster beds and carried occasional bulk cargoes, as did others of her type, through the 19th century. In 1894, then owned by Henry W. Schmeelk, Jr. of Greenwich, Christeen was licensed to work the Connecticut Oyster beds. The sloop continued to oyster and carry cargoes under sail until 1914, when a small engine was added and she was converted to an auxiliary powered motor vessel, retaining her rig but working primarily under power, occasionally oyster dredging and carrying cargoes between Connecticut and Long Island for Capt. William Bond of Southold, New York.