Talthybius was a 10,224 GRT Cargo liner that was built in 1911 by Scotts Shipbuilding & Engineering Co Ltd, Greenock, Renfrewshire, United Kingdom for a British shipping line.

She was salvaged by the British, passed to the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT) and renamed Empire Evenlode.

[6] In November 1914, Talthybius was engaged in transporting 1,000 Chinese from the United States to Hong Kong to spend Christmas there with their families.

[8] At 03:00 (local time) on 23 August 1925, Talthybius was in collision with the Chinese fishing junk 1605 off Waglan Island, Hong Kong.

1605 was sunk; a Court of Inquiry found that she was not showing any lights and Talthybius was cleared of any blame for the collision.

[12] On 11 April 1939, Talthybius suffered an explosion in one of her coal bunkers which blew off two hatches and injured four firemen.

She anchored in the Royal Roads off San Francisco, California, United States, for inspection.

She was allowed to continue her voyage from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada to Hong Kong.

She also carried the Convoy Commodore, who described the ship as "efficient and well manned" with "a good fighting spirit".

[21] Talthybius was a member of Convoy ON 3, which departed from Liverpool on 31 July and dispersed at sea on 14 August.

On 3 February 1942, two direct hits were scored on Talthybius during a Japanese air raid on Singapore and she was set on fire.

[27] The officers and European crew from Talthybius formed part of the crew of HMAS Ping Wo, which took 600 refugees from Singapore to Java, Indonesia and then towed HMAS Vendetta from Tanjung Priok, Indonesia to Fremantle, Australia.

[28] The fate of Taruyasu Maru is unclear, as conflicting accounts state that either she struck a mine off Sado Island, Japan (37°07′N 137°04′E / 37.117°N 137.067°E / 37.117; 137.067}) and sank 30 June 1945,[29] or she was sunk by United States Navy aircraft from Task Force 38 in Maizuru Bay, Japan on 30 July 1945.