SS Persic

SS Persic in Australia, 1899
History
United Kingdom
Name:	SS Persic
Owner:	White Star Line
Port of registry:	Liverpool
Builder:	Harland & Wolff, Belfast
Yard number:	325
Launched:	7 September 1899
Completed:	16 November 1899
In service:	December 1899
Out of service:	September 1926
Identification:	Official number: 110620 Call sign: BKGS
Fate:	Sold for scrapping, July 1927
General characteristics
Class and type:	Jubilee-class passenger-cargo ship
Tonnage:	11,973 GT
Length:	550 ft 2 in (167.69 m)
Beam:	63 ft 3 in (19.28 m)
Propulsion:	2 × 4-cylinder quadruple expansion steam engines, 2 shafts
Speed:	14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph)
Capacity:	320 passengers 100,000 refrigerated carcasses

SS Persic was an ocean liner of the White Star Line, built by Harland and Wolff in 1899. She was one of the five "Jubilee Class" ships (the others being the Afric, Medic, Suevic and Runic) built specifically to service the Liverpool–Cape Town–Sydney route.

On October 26, 1899, Persic assisted the crew of the schooner Maudra, which had caught on fire. She was requisitioned as a troopship during World War I. On September 7, 1918, during her wartime service, the Persic was torpedoed by a German U-boat (believed to be SM UB-87) near the Isles of Scilly. She was assisted by aircraft from RNAS Tresco and despite substantial damage, limped back to port under her own power.

In 1900, from September-November, Australian artists Hugh Ramsay and George Washington Lambert travelled on the Persic from Sydney to London. Lambert became successful in London; Ramsay preferred Paris but had to return to Australia when his health failed.

In 1920, Persic was refitted as a passenger vessel. She was scrapped in 1927, with a successful seven-year career as a liner behind her. In total she gave 28 years of reliable service.