This resulted in the Komagata Maru incident, in which Canadian immigration authorities in Vancouver, British Columbia refused to let most of them disembark.

In 1890, Charles Connell and Company of Scotstoun, Glasgow built a pair of cargo steamships for Dampfschiffs Rhederei "Hansa".

[4][5] She had a single screw, driven by a three-cylinder triple-expansion steam engine built by David Rowan & Co of Glasgow that was rated at 288 NHP[6] and gave her a speed of 11 knots (20 km/h).

[8] In 1913, Shinyei Kisen Goshi Kaisha bought Sicilia, renamed her Komagata Maru, and registered her in Dairen in the Japanese-ruled Kwantung Leased Territory.

Her holds were cleaned and fitted out with latrines, wooden benches, a meeting room and a Sikh Gurdwara.

She lay at anchor in Vancouver Harbour until 23 July, when she left taking her remaining migrants back to Japan and India.

[3] On 11 February 1926, Heian Maru was steaming around the coast of Hokkaido from Otaru to Muroran when she was wrecked near Cape Sotomari [ja].