St Malo was the first screw-propelled vessel to be built for the London and South Western and during trials she achieved 12.25 knots.
She was built by Aitken and Mansell of Glasgow, and was an iron single screw steamship of 610 tons. In 1866 she was running twice per week between the Channel Islands and Southampton and later ran between Channel Islands and France. She was sold to Dutch ship-breakers in 1906.
She only operated the route to St Malo via Jersey until 1866, when she was replaced by the Caesarea and relegated to the shorter routes from the English south coast to Normandy. However, she was to make several further appearances in the Channel Islands, as relief cover for the ships based there, before being converted to a cargo vessel in 1899.
