Phaeton (carriage) Roger Button, Benjamin's father, owns a phaeton that is his primary mode of transportation until Benjamin buys the first automobile in Baltimore. In Susannah Kells' novel "Fallen Angels", a phaeton is the transportation of choice for the main character, Campion, who later crashes the carriage in a perfect example of its dangerous and fickle reputation. The character Mr. Spenlow from the novel "David Copperfield" dies suddenly of a heart attack while driving his phaeton home. Henry James, in his short story "An International Episode" (1878) has Lord Lambeth driven through town in "a little basket-phaeton" by his companion Bessie Aldon.
HMS Phaeton (1883) "Iowa" coming up the straits approaching Victoria (British Columbia) in a dense fog. The July 1898 Navy List listed her commissioned and warrant officers as follows: "Phaeton" was re-commissioned at Esquimalt (Canada) on 10 October 1900, to serve on Pacific Station. In July 1902 she visited Acapulco, and the following month she was at Panama. She paid off on 28 April 1903. This commission was the subject of a book in the 'Log' series, entitled: "HMS Phaeton, Pacific Station, 1900–1903". The March 1901 Navy List listed her commissioned and warrant officers as follows: The "Phaeton" did harbour service at Devonport