Laid down for the P. & O. Line as a paddler but altered on the stocks to screw propulsion, Himalaya was the largest ship in the world when launched in May 1853. After making only one round trip (Southampton - Alexandria) early in 1854, she was purchased by the British Government for (130,000 and used as a troopship, first for the Crimean War and thereafter, all over the world. After forty years continuous service she was relegated to a naval coal hulk in 1894, sold to private owners at Portland Harbour in 1920 and sunk there during a German air-raid in 1940.