The SS Vadala was a 3,334-long-ton (3,388 t) steamship with a length of 340 feet (100 m), breadth of 43.1 feet (13.1 m), and draught of 26 feet (7.9 m). She was built by William Denny and Company, Dumbarton, for the British-India Steam Navigation Company (B.I.S.N.) in 1890. She had quadruple expansion, 315 nhp, steam engines. She was one of the early B.I.S.N. ships to use telemotor steering gear.

Vadala was a passenger cargo vessel, also used for the transportation of Indian indentured labourers to the colonies. On 26 March 1895 she arrived in Fiji with 747 indentured Indian labourers on board. During the trip, the ship rolled violently and the Surgeon-Superintendent complained about his patients being thrown about below deck.

In 1913 she was sold to Inui Gomei Kaisha of Japan and renamed, Kenkon Maru No. 12. On 30 May 1928 she sank after collision with the Chinese ship SS Hwachan about 140 miles (120 nmi; 230 km) east-south-east of Qingdao.