Alexander Stephen and Sons of Linthouse, Glasgow built Britannia, launching her on 1 December 1925 and completing her in March 1926.[1] She was 460feet long and had a beam of 59feet. As built her tonnages were and . She had a quadruple expansion engine that developed 558 NHP[2] and gave her a cruising speed of 14kn.
On 3 March 1926 Britannia began her maiden voyage from Glasgow to Bombay, which became her regular route.[3]
By 1930 Britannia was equipped with wireless direction finding.[2] By 1937 an echo sounding device had been added.[4]
On 25 March 1941 Britannia was in the Atlantic 750 miles west of Freetown en route from Liverpool to Bombay when the intercepted her. Britannias wireless operator transmitted an "RRR" raider warning message, which a radio station in Sierra Leone acknowledged.
Britannia was defensively armed with one naval gun on her stern. She resisted the merchant raider for more than an hour before her Master, Captain Collie, gave the order to abandon ship. Thors bombardment had damaged some of Britannias lifeboats. Sources disagree as to whether Thors Captain, Otto Kähler, ordered a pause in the bombardment to allow Britannia to lower her boats and get everyone away, but they agree that he did not stop to rescue survivors.
After 36 hours the Spanish ship Bachi rescued 63 survivors. On 29 March the Spanish ocean liner Cabo de Hornos, sailing from South America to Spain, rescued 77 survivors from various boats and a raft[5] near Tenerife.
Britannias Third Officer, William McVicar, commanded lifeboat number seven. It was certified to carry 56 people but packed with 82, some of whom were wounded. Although they were nearer Africa than South America, McVicar elected to sail west due to the prevailing currents and winds. The voyage lasted 23 days, in which time 44 people in the boat died. After sailing 1,535 miles the 38 survivors came ashore near São Luís in Brazil. For their achievement McVicar[6] and the ship's surgeon, Nancy Miller, were awarded the MBE.[7] One of the survivors from McVicar's boat, Lt-Cdr Frank West MBE, wrote a book, Lifeboat Number Seven, describing their voyage.
In total 122 of Britannias crew and 127 of her passengers were lost.[8]