The 3,269-ton Loodiana was the shipyard in Leven dock William Denny and Brothers in the Scottish town of Dumbarton built and ran on 19 December 1884 by the stack . On April 1, 1885, the ship was completed. For the British India Steam Navigation Company, the ship was used in passenger and cargo traffic on the Indian Ocean.
The Loodiana was one of iron built barquentine with three masts . However, it also had a triple expansion steam engine that could produce 372 nominal horsepower (277 kW). The ship was 103.66 meters long, 12.86 meters wide and had a side height of 7.80 meters. In the passenger accommodation there was space for 31 passengers in first class, twelve in second class and 202 between deck passengers in third class.
On Monday, January 10, 1910, the Loodiana ran with 80 passengers and 95 crew members in Port Louis on Mauritius for a crossing to Colombo on the island of Ceylon . On the way the ship disappeared without a trace. During a week-long search, neither wreckage nor corpses were found. The cause of the disappearance and the location of the wreck are still unclear. It has been suggested that the Loodiana got caught in a cyclone .