The auxiliary steamer Tycho Brahe off the South Stack Lighthouse, Anglesey

The iron screw steamer Tycho Brahe was built for Lamport & Holt's Liverpool, Brazil & River Plate Steam Navigation Co. by A. Leslie & Co. at Newcastle in 1867. Registered at 1,848 tons gross (1,257 net), she measured 291 feet in length with a 34½ foot beam and could steam at 10 knots with her single screw. Entering service to the South American ports in September 1867, she was transferred to the company's Belgian subsidiary in 1878 and thereafter operated out of Antwerp as a mail ship. In 1892 she was sold to Mr. Charles Wells of London ("the man who broke the Bank at Monte Carlo") who renamed her Palais Royale but only kept her a year before selling her. By 1894 she was running out of Constantinople under Turkish colours under the name of Taif which continued until 30th October 1908 when she was lost in the Bosphorus after colliding with the Turkish government steamer Baghdad.