Owned and operated by Bernard N. Baker's Atlantic Transport Line, Swansea was renamed Maine in 1888.

In October 1899 the Boer War broke out in South Africa and Baker immediately offered the British Admiralty the use of a vessel as a hospital ship.

[1][2][3] The Maine sailed for South Africa on 23 December 1899, with Jennie Churchill aboard, and arrived at Durban on 23 January 1900.

One of the earliest beneficiaries was Jennie's younger son Jack, wounded during the Relief of Ladysmith.

She was lost on 17 June 1914 when she ran aground in fog on the Isle of Mull, Scotland and was wrecked.