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Megantic and her sister ship
Laurentic were being built side by
side for the Dominion Line with their
intended names being Alberta and
Albany. Both ships were bought by
the Dominion Line’s sister company
the White Star Line as they were nearing
completion. Megantic set out on
her maiden voyage from Liverpool - Quebec
and Montreal June 17th 1909. With the two
ships being operated on the same route
between Liverpool and Montreal, the White
Star Line compared the performance of
their propulsion systems to determine
what would be the most suitable for their
new Olympic class ships. Although
Laurentic’s turbine proved
to be a success, the White Star Line
eventually decided to use the system of
one turbine and two piston engines to
power their new large liners. Throughout
the four years of World War One,
Megantic was mainly used by the
British Admiralty to transport troops
from Canada and America to the war in
Europe.
The end of the war saw her returned to
the White Star Line to be operated on the
Liverpool - New York run. After a few
months operating on that route, the White
Star Line had Megantic undergo a
refit before re-deploying her on the
Liverpool - Canada route. That passenger
service was interrupted to carry British
Government officials to Australia in
1920, and again to transport British
troops to China in 1927. After returning
from China, she was operated on the
London - Halifax and New York route for a
short time before being returned to the
Liverpool - Montreal run in 1930.
Megantic’s failure to run at
a profit from a combination of economy
cruises and the Canada run at that time
led to her being taken out of service in
July 1931. After being laid up at Rothesy
on the west coast of Scotland for 18
months, she set out for the ship breakers
at Osaka/Japan in February 1933.
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