The British India Line's steamer Dacca was ordered for their new London to Brisbane service, via Suez, inaugurated in 1881. Built by A. & J. Inglis of Glasgow, she was registered at 3, 909 tons gross and measured 390 feet in length with a 43½ foot beam. A single screw steamer designed for both passengers ( 75 1st and 32 2nd class) and freight, she was engined by her builders and could make 12½ knots under full power. Her maiden departure on the Australian route was not, in fact, until January 1884, she having been chartered briefly as a troopship during the Egyptian War of 1882, but once in service, she maintained a regular schedule until 1890. On 16 May that year however, she was wrecked on the Daedalus Shoal in the Red Sea due, so the subsequent inquiry stated, to the negligence of her First Officer. Fortunately, the brand new B.I. liner Palamcotta was nearby at the time and all aboard Dacca were rescued and taken to Suez.