Just over a year old the 1,926 ton steamer Canadian of the Allen Line hit a field of submerged ice off Belle Island, Newfoundland on June 4, 1861. She had departed Quebec on June 1 bound for Liverpool under the command of Capt. Graham with 216 people on board. The captain and crew managed to maintain order and launch the lifeboats, however one of them capsized killing all thirty-five who were in it. Two or three of the crew drowned in the ship, but 181 were saved and landed at Quirpon Harbor later that day.

This was the second so named ship built for the Allen Line, the first Canadian was built in 1854 and was their first steamship, she came to grief on June 1, 1857 when she was wrecked near Quebec, there were no lives lost in this incident. In 1873 they named a third ship Canadian, this one was scrapped in 1903.