The 361' long passenger/cargo steamer Grecian was launched at William Doxford in Sunderland on Oct. 16, 1879 for the Allan Line of Glasgow. She was built for Canadian route and could carry as many as 820 passengers. She sailed for twenty-two years between the U.K. and Canada with service as a troopship between 1882 and 1886. Some South American charter voyages were also made. On February 9, 1902 coming into Halifax harbor a freak snow storm blew in and blinded the master and the pilot who had come onboard. Being off course she ran hard aground on the rocks at Sandwich Point about seven miles from Halifax.

The only passenger was taken off, but the crew remained in a vain attempt to refloat the ship. Salvage divers recovered most of the cargo and noted that two large holes had been torn in her bottom. As the days went by it was obvious that the ship could not be unseated from the rocks and a storm on the 17th blew in and broke her in half. The ship was scrapped on site. The inquiry ultimately blamed the pilot for the wreck.