Cathay language, the word Cathay was sometimes used for China, although increasingly only in a poetic sense, until the 19th century when it was completely replaced by "China". A person from Cathay (i.e., a Chinese person) was also written in English as a Cathayan or a Cataian. However the terms "China" and "Cathay" have histories of approximately equal length in English. The term is still used poetically. Cathay is more prevalent as proper noun in names, such as Cathay Pacific Airways or Cathay Hotel. The flagship airline of Hong Kong is called as such because the founders envisioned that one day,
SS Cathay (1924) overloaded escorts and brought the survivors to Freetown without further incident. On 5 February 1942, the "SS Cathay" was returned to P&O and refitted as a troopship by the Bethlehem Steel Corporation at Brooklyn; it entered service again on 30 April of the same year. The "SS Cathay" was part of Operation Torch, which consisted of British and American troops invading French North Africa. It disembarked troops west of Algiers at the beginning of Operation Torch on 8 November 1942. While the "SS Cathay" was returning to the port of Bougie, Algeria from Algiers on 11 November 1942, it was