SL/S/GALL/M/19

Builders : Samuda Brothers , Yard : Blackwall , Country : UK

Gross tonnage :1,776 grt , Length : 89.85m (294.9ft) , Breadth : 11.61m (38.1ft) , Depth : 5.36m (17.6ft)

Power : 1,870 ihp , Propulsion : Single screw , Speed : 12 knots

04.04.1863: Launched. The drag chains failed to hold her and she ran across the river and stranded at East Greenwich, remaining aground until the following day when she was refloated through a channel that had been cut through the foreshore.
05.04.1863: Refloated at 0100hrs.
04.07.1863: Registered.

04.08.1863: Ran trials at Stokes Bay and delivered as Rangoon for The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company. Though named after the capital of Lower Burma, and later that of the whole country, she never actually went there.
31.08.1863: Maiden voyage Southampton/Galle/Calcutta arriving 4th November.
10.12.1863: Stranded near Aden when on her first voyage from Calcutta to Suez. The local Sultan’s troops had to be used to keep off looters until she was refloated.
25.12.1863: Towed into Aden by Norna.

18.01.1865: An explosion in her magazine and aft hold between Bombay and Aden caused fatal injuries to the child of a first class passenger. The fire took 3 hours to put out.
1871: Galle/Sydney mail service.
01.11.1871: Stopped outside Point de Galle waiting to disembark the pilot when a current put her across Kadir Rock and she was holed several times amidships. Six hours later she slipped off the rocks and sank stern first in deep water, but with no casualties except the pilot’s reputation he was given the entire blame for the accident. Mails were forwarded by Behar.