Missourian was an early American motor cargo ship which was built in 1921 in Chester, Pennsylvania, for the American-Hawaiian Steamship Company.

Auxiliary power was provided by four 65-kilowatt (87 hp) generator sets, each driven by a two-cylinder diesel engine.

[5] Missourian was built as yard number 386 by the Merchant Shipbuilding Corporation, Chester, Pennsylvania, for the American-Hawaiian Steamship Company.

The ship had sailed for more than 20,000 nautical miles (37,000 km), consuming between 112 and 114 barrels of oil a day.

[a] On the last leg, from Hamburg, Germany, to New York, her average speed was in excess of 12 knots (22 km/h).

[13] On 3 June 1928, Missourian hosted a luncheon for officers and members of the Associated Traffic Clubs of America at San Pedro.

[14] In May 1932, Missourian sprang a leak whilst on a voyage from San Francisco to Portland, Oregon.

[16] On 1 November 1935, the steamship Nevadan lost her propeller 1,200 nautical miles (2,200 km) south east of San Francisco.

[17] In summer 1940, Missourian was one of 90 American ships sold to the British Ministry of War Transport.

[18] Sailing under the British flag, she reached the United Kingdom as part of Convoy HX 59, which departed from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada on 19 July and arrived at Liverpool, Lancashire, on 3 August.

[23] Empire Swan was one of seven ships sold in 1942 to the Belgian government to replace war losses.

[25] Belgian Freighter spent much of the war sailing between the United Kingdom and North America, with a visit to Gibraltar in December 1942 and Casablanca, Morocco in January 1943.

[26] In 1946, Belgian Freighter was sold to the Compagnie Maritime Belge and was renamed Capitaine Potié.

[30] Flaminia made her first voyage post-rebuild from Venice to Cairns, Queensland, Australia, arriving in June 1955.

In July 1955, as she passed through the Suez Canal, 67 legionnaires deserted by jumping overboard as they were being transported from France to French Indo-China.

[32] In February 1957, a vibration in her starboard propeller shaft forced that engine to be shut down whilst the ship was in the Indian Ocean, bringing 946 Hungarian migrants to Australia.

He left the ship at Sydney, rejoining a week later at Perth to return home.

[34] In July 1959, Flaminia was caught up in a worldwide strike by Italian seamen when she arrived at Melbourne.

[36] In August, she was chartered by the Australian government as a troopship to return soldiers from Malaya to Australia for Christmas.

[39] In February 1960, Flaminia transported the 25,000th emigrant, Alfred Bayliss, under the Malta-Australia assisted passages agreement from Malta to Australia.

[40][41] On departure from Valletta, 29-year-old Bayliss, his wife and their two children were given VIP treatment by the Maltese government.

[5] In 1962, Flaminia was chartered to Zim Line, operating on the Marseille – Haifa route.