SS Golconda (1887)

In the mid-1880s the Sunderland shipbuilders William Doxford & Sons expanded their yard at Pallion on the River Wear but then, suffering a dearth of orders, decided to commence building on speculation their largest vessel ever to demonstrate their capabilities. They chose a two-funnelled, four-masted steel passenger-cargo liner of about 5,600 GRT, which was laid down in 1886 with the provisional name Nulli Secunda ("Second to none").^[1] For about a year the builders tried to find a buyer until, believing that she would be bought by Canadian Pacific Steamships for their new route between Vancouver, British Columbia and the Far East, they named her Trans-Pacific; she was launched by the Mayoress of Sunderland with that name on 8 February 1887, even though by then negotiations with Canadian Pacific had not been concluded.^[1][2] Some time after the launch, British India Steam Navigation Company (B.I.) became interested, to upgrade their London-Calcutta service. They required considerable alterations to meet their service, which were not finished until October 1888.^[3] Golconda was registered at Glasgow on 25 September 1888 and allocated British Official Number 95098 and signal letters K.V.C.G.^[1][4]

Completed as Golconda, she measured 6,037 GRT and 3,961 NRT, with registered length of 422.0 feet (128.6 m), a beam of 41.8 feet (12.7 m) and depth of 32.5 feet (9.9 m).^[4] She was powered by a single 550nhp/4360ihp triple-expansion steam engine, also made by Doxfords, that drove a single screw propeller, giving her a trial speed of 13.9 knots (16.0 mph; 25.7 km/h).^[1][4] The ship had cabin capacity for 80 1st-class and 28 2nd-class passengers, and could carry about 6000 tons of cargo.^[1][4]

After preliminary loading in the Tyne and at Antwerp, Golconda sailed from London on 19 October 1888 on her maiden voyage to Calcutta.^[5][6] She had an inauspicious start, suffering engine damage after leaving London, putting in to Spithead to undertake repairs and not leaving there until 27 October.^[7] Thereafter she traded successfully on the Calcutta route for 12 years; her low passenger capacity for her size was popular with travellers and the accommodation was more spacious than was usual.^[1] She suffered only two minor casualties: a small fire in December 1890 and was rammed by the Liverpool iron barque Lathom two years later, both in the Hooghly River, but was only lightly damaged.^[1]

In 1900 Golconda was chartered as a troopship during the Boer War, sailing from London to Malta on 3 January 1900 with nearly 1000 troops of the Royal West Kent Regiment.^[8] Taken up again, in August 1902 she brought 500 Boer prisoners to Durban from Calcutta, and then carried 900 returning troops to Southampton.^[9][10] This was followed by 1000 Boer prisoners from St Helena to Simonstown and troops from Durban to Ceylon.^[11][12] Returning to her regular London-Calcutta service, Golconda was gradually outclassed by more modern vessels in the B.I. fleet and was transferred to the company's East African service.^[1]