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In July 1919, ''Persic'' was returned to commercial service, and underwent a refit to overhaul and modernise her accommodation.<ref name="Kerbrech"/> She continued to ship Australian cargo, including landing in Hobart, Tasmania for 47 000 cases of fruit for London.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article23626773 |title=The Persic. |newspaper=[[The Mercury (Hobart)|The Mercury]] |volume=CXVIII |issue=17,265 |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=5 February 1923 |accessdate=18 December 2017 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>
In July 1919, ''Persic'' was returned to commercial service, and underwent a refit to overhaul and modernise her accommodation.<ref name="Kerbrech"/> She continued to ship Australian cargo, including landing in Hobart, Tasmania for 47 000 cases of fruit for London.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article23626773 |title=The Persic. |newspaper=[[The Mercury (Hobart)|The Mercury]] |volume=CXVIII |issue=17,265 |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=5 February 1923 |accessdate=18 December 2017 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>


A downturn in trade on the Australian route in the 1920s made ''Persic''{{'}}s operation increasingly uneconomic. In 1926 she went for a refit at Harland and Wolff, where her engines were found to suffering from advanced wear and tear with limited service life, as replacing them would not have been financially justifiable, the decision was made to withdraw her from service. In September 1926 she made one last voyage to Australia, and upon her return she was laid up on the River Mersey. In June 1927 she was sold for scrap for £25,000 to Hendrik Ido Ambacht, and on 7 July she left Liverpool for the [[Netherlands]] to be broken up after 27 years of service.<ref name="Kerbrech"/>
A downturn in trade on the Australian route in the 1920s made ''Persic''{{'}}s operation increasingly uneconomic. In 1926 she went for a refit at Harland and Wolff, where her engines were found to suffering from advanced wear and tear with limited service life; as replacing them would not have been financially justifiable, the decision was made to withdraw her from service. In September 1926 she made one last voyage to Australia, and upon her return she was laid up on the River Mersey. In June 1927 she was sold for scrap for £25,000 to Hendrik Ido Ambacht, and on 7 July she left Liverpool for the [[Netherlands]] to be broken up after 27 years of service.<ref name="Kerbrech"/>


==Notes==
==Notes==

Revision as of 20:47, 20 July 2018

SS Persic in 1910
History
United Kingdom
NameSS Persic
OwnerWhite Star Line
Port of registryLiverpool
BuilderHarland & Wolff, Belfast
Yard number325
Launched7 September 1899
Completed16 November 1899
In serviceDecember 1899
Out of serviceSeptember 1926
Identification
FateSold for scrapping, July 1927
General characteristics [2]
Class and typeJubilee-class passenger-cargo ship
Tonnage11,973 GT
Length550 ft 2 in (167.69 m)
Beam63 ft 3 in (19.28 m)
Propulsion2 × 4-cylinder quadruple expansion steam engines, 2 shafts
Speed14 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.[1] 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.[2]

Persic was the third Jubilee Class ship to be built for the Australia service, and was launched at Belfast on 7 September 1899, entering service on 7 December that year. Persic, like her sisters was a single funnel liner, which had capacity for 320 Cabin class passengers, and also had substantial cargo capacity with seven cargo holds, most of them refrigerated for the transport of Australian meat.[3]

Journeys

On 26 October 1900 the England-bound Persic travelling along the equator assisted the crew of the Glasgow steamer Maudra, which had caught on fire. Although extinguished the day before, it was found to be more serious, and the Maudra was abandoned.[4] Part of the September–November journey, 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.[5]

During 1901, the Persic made at least three return journeys between England and Australia. In February 1901 the vessel transported 'one of Australia's greatest and most loved poets' and bush balladeers, Will H. Ogilvie (1869–1963) from Sydney, where he returned to Scotland.[6] Artist G. W. Lambert who travelled the year before on the Persic also served as an illustrator in Ogilvie's 1898 work Fair girls and gray horses.[7][8]

In July 1901 described as a large steamer, the Persic went from Liverpool, to Cape Town, via Adelaide and Melbourne to reach Sydney.[9] The return journey saw her loaded with 1200 tons of wheat (bound for England) as large general cargo.[10][11]

Her November 1901 journey from Liverpool via Cape Town saw a passenger manifest of 335 passengers being 15 bound for Adelaide, 113 for Melbourne, and 207 for Sydney. On board were invalided and time-expired Australian and New Zealand soldiers from the Boer War.[12] Additional to over two-hundred passengers on her return journey leaving Australia for England also saw her well-laiden with cargo:

She carries a very large and varied cargo, comprising amongst other lines 10,200 bales wool, 300 tons cocoanut oil, 160 casks tallow, 1467 Ingots tin, 140 tons chrome ore, 120 bales sheepskins, 30 bales furskins, 16,130 carcases mutton and lamb, and 1200 boxes butter.[13]

The Persic continued her return trips services through the 1900s and 1910s.

War service

The vessel was requisitioned as a troopship during World War I.[1] In mid-1918 of Canada as part of an escort going to England, zig-zagging whilst trying to avoid a torpedo, the Persic ran into her sister ship the Runic fortunately with no serious damage.[14][15]

On 7 September 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.[3][note 1]

Final years

In July 1919, Persic was returned to commercial service, and underwent a refit to overhaul and modernise her accommodation.[3] She continued to ship Australian cargo, including landing in Hobart, Tasmania for 47 000 cases of fruit for London.[16]

A downturn in trade on the Australian route in the 1920s made Persic's operation increasingly uneconomic. In 1926 she went for a refit at Harland and Wolff, where her engines were found to suffering from advanced wear and tear with limited service life; as replacing them would not have been financially justifiable, the decision was made to withdraw her from service. In September 1926 she made one last voyage to Australia, and upon her return she was laid up on the River Mersey. In June 1927 she was sold for scrap for £25,000 to Hendrik Ido Ambacht, and on 7 July she left Liverpool for the Netherlands to be broken up after 27 years of service.[3]

Notes

  1. ^ An American steamer also called the Persic was allegedly sunk by an Austrian submarine in early January 1916. ('Sinking of the Persic', Ovens and Murray Advertiser (Beechworth, Victoria), 5 January 1916, p. 2)

References

  1. ^ a b c "Persic, White Star Line". norwayheritage.com. 2013. Retrieved 25 February 2013.
  2. ^ a b Clarkson, Andrew (2013). "SS Persic". titanic-titanic.com. Retrieved 25 February 2013.
  3. ^ a b c d Kerbrech, Richard De (2009). Ships of the White Star Line. Ian Allen Publishing. pp. 78–87. ISBN 978 0 7110 3366 5.
  4. ^ "Rescue at sea by steamer Persic". The Examiner. Vol. LXI, no. 23. Tasmania. 26 January 1901. p. 8 (DAILY). Retrieved 18 December 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. ^ Fullerton, Patricia (1988). Hugh Ramsay, his life and work. Hawthorn, Victoria: Hudson. ISBN 0949873101.
  6. ^ "On the Road to Scotland". Warwick Argus. Vol. XXXVII, , no. 3046. Queensland, Australia. 27 July 1901. p. 6. Retrieved 7 July 2018 – via National Library of Australia.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  7. ^ 1900 'The White Star Line.', The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), 7 September, p. 8. , viewed 07 Jul 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article14334797
  8. ^ Martin Terry (1983). "Lambert, George Washington Thomas (1873 - 1930)". Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 9. MUP. pp. 649–650. Retrieved 2009-07-15.
  9. ^ "The Persic". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 19, 757. 8 July 1901. p. 8. Retrieved 18 December 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  10. ^ "Departure of the Persic". The Daily Telegraph. No. 6902. Sydney. 24 July 1901. p. 6. Retrieved 18 December 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  11. ^ "Grain in Bulk". Australian Town and Country Journal. Vol. LXIII, no. 1642. New South Wales. 27 July 1901. p. 17. Retrieved 18 December 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  12. ^ 1901 'Arrival of the Persic', The Express and Telegraph (Adelaide), 29 November, p. 2. (FOUR O'CLOCK EDITION.), viewed 18 Dec 2017, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article210533872
  13. ^ "Sailing of the Persic". The Daily Telegraph. No. 7030. Sydney. 20 December 1901. p. 4. Retrieved 18 December 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  14. ^ "Incidents of a voyage". Bendigonian. Vol. XXIV, no. 1115. Victoria, Australia. 25 July 1918. p. 21. Retrieved 18 December 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  15. ^ "Incidents of a voyage". Bendigo Advertiser. Vol. LXVI, no. 19, 637. Victoria. 24 July 1918. p. 3. Retrieved 18 December 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  16. ^ "The Persic". The Mercury. Vol. CXVIII, no. 17, 265. Tasmania, Australia. 5 February 1923. p. 4. Retrieved 18 December 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
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