When new, Victorian, Armenian, and Cestrian were noted for being of "exceptionally large tonnage" among newly built ships, second only to White Star Line's Georgic.

[7] Cestrian had a single screw, driven by a three-cylinder triple-expansion engine that was rated at 718 NHP[4] and gave her a speed of about 13 knots (24 km/h).

Captain Trant ordered her lifeboats swung out on their davits, but she remained afloat, and she reached Boston on 31 May.

[22] As she left port, the Austro-Hungarian Navy cruiser SMS Szigetvár dipped her flag in salute.

[28] By November 1903 the cargo holds of Cestrian and several other Leyland ships had been fitted with an electric fan ventilation system.

[5] On 18 December that year she left New York for London carrying 750 head of cattle and 1,400 quarters of beef.

In late September or early October 1912 she left Galveston, Texas carrying 24,500 bales of cotton for Liverpool.

[36] On 13 December 1913 Cestrian passed Sand Key heading west into the Gulf of Mexico.

[37] On her return west on 24 December she rescued the Master and all eight crew of the British barquentine Malwa, which was foundering in a heavy sea.

USRC Miami took the survivors off Cestrian, and on 26 December landed them at Key West, Florida.

[41] On 9 April she radioed to that she was 500 nautical miles (930 km) east of Sandy Hook, New Jersey.

[43] On 2 February 1915 she left New Orleans for Avonmouth carrying about 1,000 jacks to breed mules for war service.

[44] In June 1917 Cestrian left Salonica (now Thessaloniki) in Greece with horses and 800 troops for Alexandria in Egypt.

At 09:30 hrs on 24 June UB-42 torpedoed her in the Aegean 4 nautical miles (7 km) southeast of Skyros,[45][46][47] killing her Fourth Engineer and two stokers.

[48] "Splendid discipline" ensured that all her troops and the remainder of her crew abandoned ship without further loss of life.