Corsican was built for the Allan Line by Barclay, Curle & Co., of
Glasgow, and was launched in April 1907. Her maiden voyage, on 31
October of the same year, was from Liverpool to St. John, New Brunswick,
a route she would remain on until early 1914. (During that period, four
of her trips were on charter to Canadian Pacific.)
On 12 August 1912, Corsican collided with an iceberg near Belle Isle,
but escaped with only minor damage.
From April 1914, Corsican made four Glasgow-Montréal roundtrips before
being taken over as a troopship in August. During her trooping duties
she became Canadian Pacific property when the acquisition of the Allan
Line was completed on 16 July 1917. She re-entered commercial service
with an August 1918 sailing from London to Montréal and then returned to
Liverpool-St. John service in January 1919.
Over the next three years, Corsican served Canada from London, Glasgow,
Liverpool and Antwerp. A major refitting in 1922 left her with a new
passenger accommodation configuration (cabin/third) and a new name
(Margrave). Margrave's final voyage, from Glasgow to Montréal by way of
Belfast and Québec began on 26 April 1923. On 21 May, on the return leg
of that trip, she was wrecked on Freel Rock, 20 miles (32 km) west of
Cape Race. Although no lives were lost, the ship was a total loss.
Sources: Haws Merchant Fleets; Bonsor's North Atlantic Seaway; Kludas'
Great Passenger Ships of the World.
