GUELPH was built in 1894 by Harland & Wolff at Belfast with a tonnage of 4917grt, a length of 400ft 5in, a beam of 47ft 2in and a service speed of 11.5 knots.

She entered service in October 1894 on the Southampton-Tenerife-Cape Town-Durban Intermediate service.

On 8th March, 1900 she was transferred to Union-Castle following the merger and was initially used as a Boer War troopship.

On 27th July 1909, whilst sailing in heavy seas off Hood's Point, South Africa, she spotted the lights of a large vessel. She communicated by lamp but only the last two letters of the morse code response were understood; the letters being AH. About the same time the Waratah was lost without a trace.

On 13th September 1910 she inaugurated the new Royal East African Service

In 1913 she was replaced by the Dunvegan Castle and subsequently sold to Royal Mail S.P. Co. for their new Canada-West Indies-British Guiana passenger/cargo service and renamed Caraquet.

She ended her life on 25th June 1923 when she was wrecked near Hamilton, Bermuda