SS Esperance Bay, later SS Arawa and HMS Arawa, was a British merchant ocean liner, launched in December 1921, which saw service mostly between England and the Far East and Oceania until scrapped in 1955.

The ship was named for Esperance Bay, which had itself been named for the French ship .Edward Duyker, Citizen Labillardière (Carlton: Miegunyah Press, 2003, ), pp. 126–128

When her sister ship Moreton Bay was launched by Vickers Shipbuilding & Engineering on 21 April 1921, it was reported that Largs Bay and Esperance Bay were under construction by William Beardmore & Company for the Commonwealth Line, Australia."To-day’s Launch. VISIT OF NEW SOUTH WALES PREMIER", Barrow News, 23 April 1921, p. 16The Australian Bays Ships Monthly June 2016 pages 22-25

Altogether, there were to be five Bay-class ships, each named after a bay in Australia, and built to an identical design, and they were planned for the launching of a new regular steamship service to Australia."NEW STEAMSHIP SERVICE TO AUSTRALIA", Hull Daily Mail, 22 October 1921, p. 2 While they were planned as single-class ships, they also had "a limited number of 2-berth first-class State Rooms, each with private bath"."SHIPPING", Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 14 February 1922, pp. 1–2

Esperance Bay was launched at Dalmuir on 15 December 1921 and was designed to carry 700 passengers."CLYDE LAUNCHES", Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 16 December 1921, p. 4 On 10 July 1922, after being fitted out, the ship steamed down the River Clyde, ready for her first scheduled voyage to Australia."The New Commonwealth Steamer Esperance Bay", Daily Record (Lanarkshire, Scotland), 10 July 1922, p. 18 She was registered in London."HMS/SS Arawa (140148)", Hebridean Connections, accessed 21 January 2026 On 1 August, she duly set off from Tilbury for Brisbane, carrying the first contingent of women emigrants for Australia under the Overseas Settlement Act Scheme."The Place Where Women are Wanted: the Overseas Settlement Act in Practice; by a Digger in Exile", The Graphic (London), 5 August 1922, p. 8

In May 1928, the ship and her four sisters, including Hobsons Bay and the future , were sold to the White Star Line.

In July 1935, as Esperance Bay, the vessel took part as a guest ship in the Silver Jubilee of George V review of the fleet at Spithead.

In 1936, Esperance Bay was bought by the Shaw, Savill & Albion Line, of London, was extensively refitted on the Clyde for the direct route to New Zealand through the Panama Canal, and was renamed SS Arawa."CHANGES IN PASSENGER ACCOMMODATION: Esperance Bay, the latent Arawa", Liverpool Journal of Commerce, 16 November 1936, p. 7 This was reported as "revival of a famous name", which was that of the company's SS Arawa, lost in World War I."SHIPPING ON THE NEW ZEALAND ROUTE. NOTABLE ALTERATIONS TO SHAW SAVILL STEAMER. REVIVAL OF A FAMOUS NAME", Liverpool Journal of Commerce, 26 November 1936, p. 15 Confusingly, her sister ship Hobsons Bay was then renamed as Esperance Bay.John M. Maber, North Star to Southern Cross (Stephenson, 1967), pp. 269–270

When World War II broke out in September 1939, Arawa was at Wellington in New Zealand. She was quickly requisitioned by the Admiralty and in October was sent to Sydney for conversion to an armed merchant cruiser called HMS Arawa. From there, she was posted to the China station with HMS Liverpool. The ship served in this role until 1941, when she was transferred to the Ministry of War Transport and went to Birkenhead and was converted to a troop ship, with bunks for transporting up to 1,850 men. In 1942, she took forces to Durban, returning home to England by way of Buenos Aires with a cargo of meat. In November 1942, she took part in Operation Torch as a troop ship, landing soldiers in North Africa. In 1943, she was making crossings of the North Atlantic, to bring American forces to Britain for Operation Bolero. After Victory in Europe Day, 8 May 1945, she was sent to the Mediterranean for the repatriation of prisoners of war, and from there was posted onwards to Bombay, with a view to being used in the ongoing Pacific War.

Following the Surrender of Japan on 15 August, towards the end of October 1945 Arawa docked in Shanghai, sent there to repatriate some 600 British subjects to England."BRITONS LEAVE FOR HOME", The People (London) 21 October 1945, p. 3 Most, including the future actor Peter Wyngarde and the future author James Graham Ballard, had been liberated from the Lunghua Civilian Assembly Centre."Letter from J. G. Ballard on "Mr Chips," Peter Wyngarde, etc.", 2 December 1994, in JGB News No. 24, jgballard.ca, accessed 21 January 2026 Arawa made the voyage to Southampton in November and December, carrying 582 British passengers."Board of Trade: Commercial and Statistical Department and successors: Inwards Passenger Lists, Class: BT26; Piece: 1215; Item: 46. SS Arawa, December 1945", National Archives of the United Kingdom, Kew, England accessed 21 January 2026:"SHIP'S NAME: ArawaARRIVAL DATE: 14 Dec. 1945OFFICIAL NUMBER: 140148 STEAMSHIP LINE: Cunard White StarREGISTERED TONNAGE: 14461 / 8598MASTER'S NAME: T. V. ROBERTSVOYAGE: From Shanghai Hong Kong Kowloon Singapore Suez to SouthamptonSummary of British and Alien Passengers: 767 [Passenger list attached of 582 names of British passengers headed "EX SHANGHAI"]

On 7 February 1946, Arawa returned to her pre-war life, steaming to New Zealand by way of Panama. In August 1947, she was put to work to re-open the route between England, Cape Town, and New Zealand. On 4 May 1954, in the Thames Estuary, she collided with a steamer called Borde, and was damaged. The other vessel's bosun was reported to be missing, but he was later found on Arawa, having jumped from one to the other in his underwear at the moment of collision."COLLISION THEN LEAP", Belfast Telegraph, 4 May 1954, p. 7

Arawa made her last voyage in December 1954. From May 1955, she was scrapped at Cashmore's in Newport, Wales.

In popular culture Arawa appears in the last chapter of Empire of the Sun, in which the character Jim, based on the novel's author James Graham Ballard, boards with his mother and reflects on his life after the war. This scene was omitted from the 1987 film adaptation.

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