The 6,545 GRT steamship Eloby was built at Irvine's Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co. Ltd. built in Middleton Shipyard West Hartlepool and was 123.4 meters long, 16.5 meters wide and had a draft of 9.9 meters. The combined passenger and cargo ship was launched on September 12, 1912 and was completed on February 22, 1913. The ship had two funnels, two masts and a propeller and was powered by three-cylinder triple expansion steam engines that developed 577 nominal horsepower and could accelerate the ship to 12 knots.
After the outbreak of war, the Eloby was used as a troop transport. On July 19, 1917, the armed ship was torpedoed 75 nautical miles southeast of Malta by the German submarine U 38 (Kapitänleutnant Max Valentiner ) and sank at position 35.11N / 15.58E. 56 crew members, including the captain, and 100 French soldiers were killed in the sinking.
