The 5545 GRT steamship Tagus was built at the Robert Napier & Sons shipyard in Govan near Glasgow and was launched on June 27, 1899. She was the structurally identical sister ship of the 5573 GRT Trent (III), which was built with hull number 467 at the same shipyard and put into service at the beginning of 1900.
The Tagus was 124.96 meters long and 9.14 meters wide. She had two funnels, two masts and a single propeller, and was powered by triple expansion steam engines that could propel the ship to a speed of 15 knots. 200 passengers could be carried in first, 30 in second and 250 in third class. The ship was built for the passenger and postal service from Southampton to the West Indies and left on November 15, 1899 on its maiden voyage on this route. The ship remained on this route until 1914 with a brief exception in 1900 when it was used as a troop transport during the Second Boer War .
From 1914 to 1918 the Tagus served as a hospital ship in the First World War and survived it without damage. In 1920 it was sold to the Spanish company Hijos de José Tayé, founded in 1915 and based in Barcelona , and renamed Principe de Viana . The 27-year-old ship was finally scrapped in 1926.
