Harland and Wolff - Shipbuilding and Engineering Works

One funnel, four masts, twin screw, speed 13 knots, accommodation for 320-1st class passengers, reduced to 260 in 1920. The third of the five Jubilee Class ships for the Australian service, Persic 's 7th December 1899 maiden voyage from Liverpool to Sydney was notable for two reasons. The first is that the entire voyage was greatly influenced by the Boer War. She carried 500 British troops to Cape Town from Liverpool; wounded and ill Australian soldiers from Cape Town to Sydney; and horses from Australia to South Africa on the return voyage. Second, her rudder stock broke at Cape Town and Persic had to wait there for a replacement to arrive from Belfast..

She remained in service under the liner Requisition Scheme during World War I. In September 1918, while in convoy carrying 1,999 American troops from New York, she was torpedoed off the coast of England. There were no fatalities and the ship was beached and subsequently repaired. She was refitted after the war and returned to White Star's Australian service. She was again refitted in 1926, but during that refitting it was determined that she suffered from significant engine wear. Because of her age, the necessary engine repairs were economically unfeasible, so she made her last voyage to Australia in September of that year. Upon her return she was laid up and, in July 1927, towed to the Netherlands for scrapping at Hendrik Ido Ambacht, Holland.

[Merchant Fleets vol.2 by Duncan Haws]