SS Melita

SS Melita was one of a pair of transatlantic steam ocean liners that were built in the United Kingdom, launched in 1917 and operated by Canadian Pacific until 1935. Her sister ship was SS Minnedosa.

In 1935 Flotte Riuniti Cosulich-Lloyd Sabaudo obtained both ships, renamed them, and converted them into troop ships for the Italian government. Melita was renamed Liguria, and in 1936 passed to Lloyd Triestino.

In 1940 a British aircraft torpedoed Liguria in the Mediterranean. In 1941 Italian forces scuttled her at Tobruk. Her wreck was raised, and in 1950 it was scrapped.

Building
In 1913 Hamburg America Line ordered a pair of liners from Barclay, Curle & Co. During that war Canadian Pacific (CP) bought the two partly built ships and had them completed to its specification.

Barclay, Curle & Co built Melita in Glasgow as yard number 517 and launched her on 24 April 1917. She was then towed to Belfast where Harland & Wolff installed her engines. Her Harland & Wolff yard number was 463.

Melita had three screws. A pair of four-cylinder triple-expansion steam engines drove her port and starboard screws. Exhaust steam from their low-pressure cylinders powered a low-pressure steam turbine that drove her middle screw. Between them the three engines gave her a top speed of 16+1/2 kn and cruising speed of 15 kn.

Melita's registered length was 520 ft, her beam was 67.2 ft and her depth was 50.3 ft. Her holds included 37460 cuft of refrigerated space. As built, her tonnages were and.

Just before the First World War, CP was developing the idea of cabin class to replace both first and second class. Accordingly it had Melita and Minnedosa fitted out with only two classes of passenger accommodation. Melita had berths for 550 passengers in cabin class and 1,200 in third class.

UK service
CP took delivery of Melita on 12 January 1918. Her maiden voyage was from Liverpool to St John, New Brunswick, but her regular route was between Liverpool and New York.

By the summer of 1918, Melita was pressed into service as a troop transport ship in WWI, carrying men from New York for service in Europe. After the Armistice of 11 November 1918 she was engaged in transporting American and Canadian troops back from France. During the war Melita transported 12,583 troops and passengers in war service. All together the ships of the Canadian Pacific line transported over one million troops and passengers and carried over four million tons of cargo and munitions.

In 1919 the UK Government chartered her for one voyage from Glasgow to Bombay.

In 1920 Melita was overhauled in Antwerp. From 1922 to 1927 her route was between Antwerp and St John via Southampton. In 1925 Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company refitted her in Jarrow. The refit increased her tonnages to and.

In 1927 CP put Melita on its route between Britain, Quebec and Montreal. In 1932 Melita made her final transatlantic crossing, which was from Liverpool, Belfast and Greenock to Halifax, Nova Scotia and St John. She had crossed the North Atlantic 146 times.

From 1932 Melita was laid up, but then CP then used her to run a series of cruises from Glasgow. In 1935 CP sold Melita and Minnedosa to breakers in Italy.

Murder of Captain Clews
In the early hours of 21 October 1925 Melita was in port in Antwerp when her Chief Officer, Thomas Towers, shot dead her Master, AH Clews, as the latter slept in his cabin. Towers also shot the Assistant Chief Engineer, David Gilmour, in the head, but without killing him. Other officers then overpowered Towers, but in the struggle he twice shot the Second Engineer, John Holliday, in the chest. Towers tried to shoot himself in the head, but failed.

Belgian police arrested Towers, who blamed Clews and others for "trying to wreck his career". The police then put him back aboard to be surrendered to British police. Gilmour and Holliday were initially treated in hospital in Antwerp, where one of the bullets was removed from Holliday's lung. The next day Melita reached Southampton, where a police launch put a surgeon aboard to treat Gilmour and Holliday, and Towers was removed under arrest.

Captain Clews was the nephew of the banker Henry Clews (1834–1923). Towers was found insane and detained at His Majesty's pleasure in Broadmoor Hospital.

Italian service
The sale contract specified that the two ships must be broken up. This clause was breached when the pair were passed to Flotte Riuniti Cosulich-Lloyd Sabaudo, who had them refitted as troop ships for the Italian Government. Melita was renamed Liguria. In 1936 she was transferred to Lloyd Triestino.

On 5 July 1940 a British aircraft torpedoed Melita in the Mediterranean, but she stayed afloat and reached port in Tobruk. When British and Australian forces captured Tobruk the retreating Italians scuttled Melita in the approach to Tobruk harbour on 22 January 1941.

Melita was later refloated. In 1950 her wreck was towed to Savona, where she arrived on 31 August to be scrapped.