After the ship had changed hands sometime between 1910 and 1915, it was used during World War I as part of the Hindu–German Conspiracy to foment rebellion in India and overthrow the British Raj.
[1] SS Maverick was laid down at the Columbian Iron Works in Baltimore, Maryland as a 1,721-long-ton (1,749 t) tanker for Standard Oil of New York, and delivered in May 1890.
Jebsen was also the master of SS Mazatlan, a ship that had been suspected of secretly resupplying the German light cruiser SMS Leipzig in August 1914.
[3] On 20 April 1915 rumors that Maverick was loading ammunition at Los Angeles reached a United States Customs Service agent, who ordered an inspection.
The ship was to rendezvous with the schooner Annie Larsen at the island of Socorro, with the intention of transferring a quantity of arms to the Maverick.