Melita
Ship Number
463
Vessel Type
Passenger Ship
Built
Barclay Curle & Company
Launch Date
April 21, 1917
Delivered
January 12, 1918
Owner
Canadian Pacific Railway Co
Weight
13967 grt
BP Length
520 feet
Breadth
67 feet
No. of Screws
Triple
Speed (approx)
15 knots
Propulsion
Triple expansion engine with 8 cylinders by H&W Belfast
Official No.
136367
Registered
Belfast
Fate
Scrapped
Melita

Two funnels, two masts, triple screw and a speed of 15 knots. Accommodation for 550-cabin and 1,200-3rd class passengers. When the ship's keel was laid down at Barclay, Curle & Company of Glasgow in 1913, she was intended for the Hamburg America Line. World War I intervened, however, and while on the stocks she was purchased by Canadian Pacific. After being launched as Melita in 1917, she was towed to Harland & Wolff in Belfast for the installation of her engines and fitting out. She entered service with a 25 January 1918 maiden voyage from Liverpool to St. John, New Brunswick. Before being overhauled in Antwerp in 1920, she served on Canadian Pacific's Liverpool-New York route and made a Glasgow-Bombay voyage in 1919 for the British government. During the period from 1922 to 1927, Melita was in Canadian Pacific's Antwerp-St. John service and was refitted in 1925 at Palmers Company of Jarrow. She then returned to service from Britain to Canada, beginning with an April 1927 sailing from Glasgow and Belfast to Québec and Montréal and ending with a March 1932 trip from Liverpool, Belfast and Greenock to Halifax and St. John.
 
After 146 Atlantic crossings, Melita was used for cruising until she was sold for scrapping in Genoa in 1935.
 
She was bought from the breakers by Italia, renamed Liguria and used as a troop transport.
 
In July 1940 she was damaged by an air attack on Tobruk and on 22nd Jan.1941 was scuttled in Tobruk roads. Later raised and seized by the British, she was towed to Savona in August 1950 and scrapped.
 
 [North Atlantic Seaway by N.R.P.Bonsor, vol.3,p.1314]