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 built specifically to service the Liverpool–Cape Town–Sydney route. The voyage took six weeks.

SS Afric was a steamship built for White Star Line by Harland and Wolff shipyards. She was of the Jubilee class, had a reported gross register tonnage of 11,948, and had a port of registry of Liverpool, England. Afric was launched on November 16, 1898, and was involved in shipping between Liverpool and Australia.