Named after the coastal town of Port Fairy in Australia, she was renamed Taishikan for her final commercial voyage to Hong Kong where she was scrapped.

[3] Sailing in fast convoy OL8 from Liverpool to Canada on 22 October 1940, Port Fairy collided with the Canadian destroyer Margaree in rough seas about 300 miles (483 km) west of Ireland (position 53°24′N 22°50′W / 53.400°N 22.833°W / 53.400; -22.833.[4][5]).

On 9 July 1943 the small Convoy Faith, comprising Port Fairy, the troopships Duchess of York and California, with escorts Iroquois, Douglas and Moyola, sailed Greenock for Freetown, Sierra Leone.

Both Duchess of York and California were abandoned, and in the early hours of 12 July[3] they were sunk by torpedoes from their escorts as it was feared the flames from the ships would attract U-boats.

On 25 December 1953, while operating on the Montreal - Australian New Zealand service, both engines failed owing to contaminated lubrication oil and the ship drifted for three days towards the rocks of Fatu Hira atoll.