The 12,232 GRT steamship Ionic was built at the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast and was launched on May 22, 1902. The Ionic was the most recently completed of three sister ships that were built for passenger and freight service to New Zealand. The other two were the Athenic and the Corinthic , both of which entered service in 1902. The Ionic left on January 16, 1903 on her maiden voyage to Wellington .
The ship was powered by eight-cylinder quadruple expansion steam engines from Harland & Wolff, which acted on two propellers and made 604 nominal horsepower. A maximum of 121 passengers could be carried in first class, 117 in second class and 450 in third class. It was equipped with electric lights and refrigeration facilities for transporting frozen meat. The ship had four decks and four masts so that in the event of an engine failure, the voyage could continue with the sails set. However, this was never necessary.
The Ionic was the first vessel on the New Zealand route, which with a Marconi ™ apparatus for wireless radio was equipped. It stayed on this route until it was used as a troop transport for the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF) after the outbreak of World War I. In 1915 she was just missed by a torpedo in the Mediterranean Sea . In 1917 the ship fell under the provisions of the Liner Requisition Theme (roughly "Ship Acquisition Program"). On January 31, 1919, the Ionic returned to its old New Zealand route via the Panama Canal .
In 1927, the Ionic rescued the crew of the Daisy fishing boat , which had run aground off the Newfoundland Bank. In 1929 the price categories cabin class and third class were introduced. When the White Star Line was taken over by the Cunard Line in 1934 , the Ionic was sold to Shaw, Savill & Albion Steamship Company . In 1936 it was subordinated to its subdivision Norfolk & North American Steamship Company. On September 9, 1936, the Ionic left for its last voyage. The following year it was scrapped in Osaka, Japan. Her ship's bell is now in the Auckland War Memorial Museum .
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