Chartered by the US Army in 1917 for use as a troop transport, Antilles was sunk by a German U-boat on October 17, 1917, resulting in the loss of 67 lives.

At the time of its sinking the Antilles was the largest single largest loss of US lives to that point in World War I. Antilles, US official number 204018, was a 6,879 GRT ship built in the shipyards of William Cramp & Sons Shipbuilding Company, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania delivered April 1907.

[4] The vessel was operated as a combined passenger and cargo ship by the Southern Pacific Steamship Company from the time of its launch until 1917.

[2][14][15] Among the fifty persons rescued by Corsair was then Brigadier General William Sharp McNair who had been ordered to return to take command of 151st Field Artillery Brigade.

[19][20] Those that died were some of the first to come under the new war-insurance law allowing payment of $6,000 ($ 147,300 in 2025) payable to families in installments of $25 ($610 in 2025) per month over twenty years.