SS Cephalonia

Cephalonia departed on her maiden voyage on 23 August 1882 from Liverpool to Queenstown and Boston without issues. During her career, the ship would also hold occasional stops at New York and Baltimore. On 23 January 1886, while Cephalonia was on her homebound voyage from Boston to Liverpool, she lost her propeller about 650 nautical miles (1,200 km; 750 mi) west of the Fastnet Rock, leaving her dead in the water. That same day SS Egypt of the National Line came across the stricken vessel and offered assistance after the captain of Cephalonia informed the captain of Egypt about their unfortunate situation. However, the captain of Cephalonia declined this offer of assistance and instead requested that Egypt inform any eastbound steamship of the damage that Cephalonia had sustained. After two days, on 25 January 1886, Egypt encountered an eastbound steamer and informed them of what had happened to Cephalonia and their position. The ship reached Cephalonia and proceeded to tow her all the way to Queenstown by 30 January 1886, where the ship was repaired and returned to service.^[5]

Cephalonia would complete her final voyage as a passenger ship on 12 September 1899, as the Boer War had broken out and the British Admiralty commissioned her in October 1899 to serve as a troop transport during the conflict. She fulfilled this role until the ship was sold to the Chinese Eastern Railway in 1900, where she was renamed Hailor.^[6]

Hailor was sold to the Imperial Russian Navy in 1900 and stationed in Port Arthur. She was still stationed there when the Russo-Japanese War broke out following a Japanese attack on Port Arthur on 8–9 February 1904. The Imperial Russian Navy decided to scuttle Hailor alongside another steamer named Harbin on 9 March 1904 at the entrance to the harbor at Port Arthur, in order to use them as blockships to keep out the Imperial Japanese Navy.^[7]