The Medina was one of the class "M" liners and made her maiden voyage as the royal yacht, carrying King George V and Queen Mary to India.
Gross tonnage: 12,358
Net tonnage: 6,879
Length: 167.79 m.
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Edward Henderson left Tilbury on 4 September 1915 on the Medina. He was invited to Australia by the Commonwealth Government to design ships for the Australian Navy.
The Medina was one of the P&O "M" class liners. She was built by the Caird shipyard in Glasgow, who had built other vessels for P&O, and was launched in 1911. The British government chartered the Medina for several months, to carry George V and Queen Mary to India. She was painted white for the occasion, with a blue ribband and yellow funnels, and sailed via Gibraltar and the Suez Canal to Bombay. She was decommissioned from the Royal Navy in 1912 after the return voyage, and sent back to the shipyard to convert to her original design. On 3 June she arrived in Tilbury and began service to Australia on 28 June. The Medina was popular because of her prior service as a Royal Yacht. 450 first-class and 220 second-class passengers could be accommodated.
This was the last of the ten "M" class of ships which were built for P&O. On April 28 1917, Medina was torpedoed by a German submarine about 15 miles from Devon, England. The ship sank within half an hour, with the captain watching from a nearby lifeboat.