[2][3] The ship was propelled by two shafts powered by a triple expansion steam engine rated at 1,800 indicated horsepower (1,300 kW).

[2][3] Canada was fitted with a Marconi wireless, a device just being installed aboard much larger British warships at the time.

"[18] In 1909, the Fisheries crew was removed from the ship and volunteers from the Royal Navy Reserve were brought aboard to provide a higher level of naval training.

[2] The ship was commissioned as HMCS Canada on 25 January 1915 and served on the Atlantic coast as an anti-submarine patrol vessel.

[29] This was a service for which she was poorly equipped, lacking comfortable overnight accommodations for the island cruise, as well as air conditioning.

Passengers rapidly lost interest in the service and once again the ship sat idle and rusting, this time for 18 months in Biscayne Bay.

[citation needed] Collier announced some Mexican investors were interested in purchasing the ship for service in the Gulf of Mexico in June 1926.

The ship left Miami in ballast on 30 June 1926 for Tampa, Florida to undergo a final inspection before the sale.

The 18-person crew abandoned ship and shortly after 7:00 pm the vessel slipped below the waves stern-first in 35 fathoms (210 ft; 64 m) of water off Islamorada.

[18] In March 2003, the site was the focus of an archaeological investigation by a NOAA team consisting of the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary, East Carolina University, National Undersea Research Center (NURC) at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington[18] and videographer Rick Allen and Kimberly Faulk[30] from Nautilus Productions.

[31] The wreck is encrusted with oysters, as well as sponges, corals, and other invertebrate growth and rests upright on a white, sandy bottom.

[27] Archaeologists are working toward designating the wreck a U.S. National Historic Site because of the significance it holds in the evolution of Canada's military.