each had a domed skylight. The Daily Telegraph in Sydney called Niagara "a magnificent liner". Niagara had her own hospital. Mindful of the great loss of life on the RMS Titanic in April 1912, the Union Company stressed that Niagara had enough lifeboats for all her passengers and crew. She also carried a steam launch. Sister ship At the end of 1913 the Union Company ordered a running mate for Niagara from the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company in Govan, Glasgow. She was to be a sister ship, but longer and a greater tonnage. Unlike Niagara, the new ship was propelled entirely by turbines, and had only two screws. She was launched on 30 June 1915 as Aotearoa, the Māori name for North Island. The Admiralty requisitioned Aotearoa and renamed her . She was completed on 14 December 1915 as an armed merchant cruiser. A U-boat sank her by torpedo in 1917. Entry into service The Union Company was based in New Zealand but it registered its ships in London. Many members of her crew were Australian, and they were employed under Australian articles. Niagara was built for the Union Company's transpacific service between Australia and Vancouver via New Zealand, Fiji and Hawaii. It was informally called the All-Red Line, like the telegraph cable network of the same name. However, her maiden voyage was to deliver her from Scotland to Australia. She sailed from Glasgow via Plymouth, Durban and Melbourne to Sydney. She reached Melbourne on 22 April 1913 and Sydney on 24 April. When Niagara reached Melbourne the Auckland Star called her "an unsinkable ship" and praised her as "one of the most palatial and up-to-date steamers seen in Australia". When she reached Auckland a fortnight later, the Auckland Star said her arrival marked "a new epoch in the growth of New Zealand's trans-oceanic trade". Stressing her large cargo capacity, the newspaper said "She cannot fail to encourage trade between New Zealand and Canada", and that she would "inevitably aid the great work of consolidating the Empire". Niagara was scheduled to leave Sydney on 5 May on her first voyage to Vancouver. She returned from Vancouver and reached Auckland on 1 July 1913, having covered the at an average of . Setting records In January 1914 Niagara set a record for crossing the Tasman Sea. Despite a strong northeast wind on the first day she steamed from Sydney to