The _Franconia_ and _Alaunia_ were also employed in carrying troops from September, 1914, onwards until both of them were sunk, curiously enough within a few days of one another in October, 1916. During this period they carried troops not only from Canada to England, but made several voyages to India and various parts of the Mediterranean. It was while she was on her way from Alexandria to Salonica, though fortunately after she had disembarked 2,700 soldiers, that the _Franconia_ (Captain D. S. Miller), was torpedoed, about 200 miles N.E. of Malta. Twelve of her crew were killed by the explosion. The ship sank fifty minutes after she was hit, the survivors being picked up by H.M. Hospital Ship _Dover Castle_, whose R.A.M.C. Surgeon, Dr. J. D. Doherty chanced himself to be one of the Cunard Company’s Medical Officers. The _Alaunia_, again, as it happened, having landed her passengers and mails at Falmouth, after a voyage from New York, was torpedoed on her way to London, about two miles south of the Royal Sovereign Light Vessel. Captain H. M. Benison, in command, hoped to beach the ship, but unfortunately the water gained too rapidly, and the necessary tugs did not arrive in time. Two members of the crew were found to be missing, probably as the result of the explosion, the rest being saved by patrol boats and destroyers and the _Alaunia’s_ own lifeboats. [Illustration: THE NELSON PLATE PRESENTED TO THE “CARMANIA”] The _Andania_, _Ascania_, _Ivernia_, and _Saxonia_, were all for several months used as prison ships in 1915, each of them providing accommodation for nearly 2,000 German prisoners. They were afterwards employed as Transports, both to India and the Mediterranean, the _Ivernia_, _Ascania_ and _Andania_, in the end, all being sunk by enemy submarines. These losses represented a heavy sacrifice by the Company, particularly in view of the post-war needs of navigation.