Lot Essay
Built at St. Nazaire in 1906, although laid down with the name Point-a-Pitre, Guadeloupe was renamed on the stocks and completed in 1907 for the French Line's West Indian and Central American service. Capable of 16 knots and with accommodation for three classes of passengers as well as 390 emigrants, she was en route from Rio de Janeiro to Bordeaux on 23rd February 1915 when she was captured by the German Armed Merchant Cruiser Kronprinz Wilhelm off the north coast of Brazil. After plundering her cargo and transferring her passengers and crew to the captured British collier Chasehill, Guadeloupe was scuttled by her captors several days later.