SS Columbia was a passenger vessel built for the London and South Western Railway in 1894.[1]
The ship was built by J and G Thomson of Clydebank and launched on 4 September 1894,[2] sponsored by a Miss Alderson. Columbia was one of an order for two ships, the other being . She was intended for the fast passenger mail service operated by the railway company between Southampton and Le Havre.
On 13 February 1898, Columbia collided with the French fishing-smack Gazelle. Of the crew of eight French fishermen, only two were rescued.[3]
In 1912, Columbia was sold to J. J. Sitges Freres of Alicante, Spain, and renamed Sitges. He was acquired by the French Navy in 1915 for World War I service as a troopship and renamed 'Corse'. Corse was sunk on 24 January 1918 in the Mediterranean Sea off La Ciotat, Bouches-du-Rhône, France, by the Imperial German Navy submarine . Her crew survived.[4]