Name SS Persic Completed 16 November 1899 Launched 7 September 1899 Beam 19 m | Yard number 325 In service December 1899 Length 168 m Builder Harland and Wolff | |
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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.
