Except during the First World War, the ship's main use was as a passenger liner on the routes from England through the Suez Canal to India and the Far East, and she was fast enough to carry mail.

Dongola was ordered by P&O from the shipbuilders Barclay, Curle and Co. of Whiteinch on the River Clyde, and work was reported to be in hand in March 1905.

[8] In November 1905, P&O advertised "Direct China Sailings by new Twin Screw Mail Steamer Dongola", stopping in Egypt, Bombay, and Ceylon, with her final destination being Hong Kong.

[9] On her maiden voyage beginning at the end of that year, the ship took Prince Arthur of Connaught and his party to China, on their way to Japan to invest the Emperor Meiji with the Order of the Garter.

[10] Dongola steamed across Hong Kong Harbour accompanied by a procession of gaily decorated launches, and the prince landed at Blake Pier, where there were speeches.

Seasonal trooping work was repeated every year until 1910, and in June 1911 the ship took part in King George V's Coronation Review of the Fleet, carrying Admiralty guests.

[7] In 1915, Dongola was requisitioned until further notice and served as a temporary hospital ship in the Dardanelles during the Gallipoli campaign of 1915 to 1916.

[7] The fighting with Germany had been ended by the Armistice of 11 November 1918, but throughout 1919 the Russian Civil War continued to rage, with some British (and Allied) intervention on behalf of the Whites.

F. W. North, Anglican Chaplain in Moscow and his wife, the Russian jeweller Alexander Julius Fabergé, the eight-year-old half-British Dimitry Tolstoy, accompanied by his nurse, Lucy Stark, and Elijah Egmore, a butler.

[18] Dongola's master Commander R. H. Griffin RNR, later reported to P&O in London: At 11.55 a.m. ship commenced to tremble and vibrate violently and on looking towards the shore it was seen that a terrible earthquake was taking place, buildings were collapsing in all directions and in a few minutes nothing could be seen for clouds of dust.

[4]A large ship, the Lyons Maru, passed Dongola heading for open water and touched her bow plates, but did no damage.

[4] By 9.40 a.m. on 2 September Griffin was worried by "large quantities of floating oil blazing furiously and drifting in various parts of the harbour", so he took his ship outside the breakwater.

[4] The larger and newer Canadian Pacific liner RMS Empress of Australia had also been in Yokohama harbour at the time of the earthquake, and her captain recorded in the ship's log: "The vessel shook all over in a most terrifying fashion, and also rocked very quickly and violently until it seemed as though the masts and funnels must carry away."

[7] In 1924, Dongola was providing a passenger service between Aden and Bombay, and in 1925 made a round trip from England to Australia and back.