SS Champollion was ordered, with the Mariette Pacha, for the Egypt-Syria fast route by the Contractual Services of the Messageries Maritimes from the Provencal company of naval constructions in La Ciotat.

The ship was launched on March 16, 1924, in the presence of Luynes d'Auteroche, great-grand-nephew of Jean-François Champollion and President Georges Philippar.

Her sister ship the Mariette Pasha, named in tribute to the Egyptologist Auguste Mariette-bey, benefited from a similar decoration, but much less beautiful and less luxurious.

On Monday, December 1, 1952, at 12.30 p.m., the Champollion set sail with 120 crew members and 111 passengers on board under the command of Captain Henri Bourne in Marseille for her next voyage to Beirut.

With the Al Manara lighthouse out of order, the Champollion headed for another light that turned out to be the airport beacon, 15 kilometers south of the port of Beirut.