SS was a refrigerated cargo liner that was built in France for Chargeurs in 1921. She was one of a fleet of similar ships that operated on scheduled services between Hamburg, Le Havre, and Buenos Aires.
In 1936, was involved in a collision in the South Atlantic with a British refrigerated cargo ship, in which five of her stokers were killed. 's passengers and surviving crew were rescued, and tugboats took her in tow, but two days after the collision she sank.
"Island"-series cargo liners In 1907 and 1908, took delivery of three twin-screw cargo liners. Each was about long; beam, and had a pair of triple-expansion engines with a combined rating of about 680 NHP. Each was named after an island: (Ceylon), (Malta), and (Ushant).
After the First World War, ordered further ships to a similar design. The beam was increased by about , and in most cases the depths were increased, but the ships were otherwise similar. , , and were completed in 1921; followed by and in 1922.
ordered a final four ships in the same sequence, but with Rateau steam turbines instead of triple-expansion engines. Following the alphabetical sequence of names of islands, they were to be called , , , and . However, while they were still being built, Messageries Maritimes bought , , and , and had them completed in 1923 as , , and . Of the final four, only was completed for .
Building Ateliers et Chantiers de France in Dunkirk built two members of ' "Island"-series: , and ; both completed in 1921. is French for Euboea in the Aegean, the second-largest island in Greece. Her registered length was , her beam was , and her depth was . Her holds had capacity for of baled cargo, and of her holds were refrigerated. She had berths for at least 178 passengers. Her tonnages were , , and .
Career registered at Le Havre. Her code letters were OGUM. By 1930, she was equipped with wireless direction finding. By 1934, her wireless telegraph call sign was FNMH, and this had superseded her code letters.
Between April and November 1928, scheduled to make two round trip voyages between Hamburg and Buenos Aires. On both voyages, she was to call at Antwerp, Le Havre, Lisbon, Rio de Janeiro, Santos, and Montevideo in each direction. However, on the first voyage she was to call also at Funchal on the outbound leg, and at Vigo on the return leg. On the second voyage, she was to call also at La Rochelle, Bilbao, A Coruña, Leixões, Dakar on the outbound leg; and at Dakar, Leixões, Vigo and La Rochelle on the return leg.
Loss
On 14 August 1936, was on the South Atlantic, en route from Bordeaux to Buenos Aires. She was near Santa Catarina Island, about north of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil, when at about 04:00 hrs the Donaldson South American Line refrigerated cargo ship collided with her in fog. 's stokehold and engine room were flooded, five of her stokers were killed, and her electrical system failed. Both ships stayed afloat, but was badly damaged.
After two hours, 's Master, Captain Raoul Daniel, ordered all 178 passengers into the lifeboats. About half an hour later, the fog lifted, and rescued the passengers, along with 36 members of 's crew. Two passengers were injured in the rescue. One fell into the sea when being transferred to a lifeboat, and her leg was broken.
A reduced crew remained aboard to try to save the ship. Two tugs, the Rio Grande do Sul state government's , and the Uruguayan Government's Powerful, took her in tow. However, two days later, on 16 August, sank. rescued her remaining crew. Also on 16 August, landed survivors at .
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