She was launched in 1907 in Ireland for the Aberdeen Line service between Great Britain and Australia via South Africa.

[1] In the 19th century Aberdeen Line named some of its sailing ships after classical Greek people and events.

[2] Harland & Wolff built Pericles on slipway number four of its North Yard[3] in Belfast, launching her on 21 December 1907 and completing her on 4 June 1908.

[6] Pericles had twin screws driven by quadruple-expansion steam engines whose combined power output was rated at 1,075 NHP.

[11] Her Master was Alexander Simpson,[5] who was the Commodore of the Aberdeen Line fleet and had 46 years' experience at sea.

The lead was on its way to England in 1910 because it contained gold, platinum and silver, and at the time Australia lacked the means to separate the precious and base metals.

[7] Miners in the Newcastle, New South Wales area had been on strike, which had caused a coal shortage in Australia.

Coal had been imported from the US, India and Natal,[12] and the strike had ended by 14 March,[13] but the shortage was expected to continue for some weeks.

[7] At 1532 hrs on 31 March Pericles was off the coast of Western Australia, steaming at 14 knots (26 km/h) in good visibility, when she struck an uncharted rock off St Alouarn Island, 3+1⁄2 nautical miles (6.5 km) southeast of Cape Leeuwin, the most south-westerly point on the Australian mainland.

Her Chief Engineer, WL Robertson, and his crew worked waist deep in water to shore up her bulkheads and keep her pumps running.

The crew of Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse lit fires ashore to guide the boats to safe landfall in Sarge Bay.

Monaro was a smaller ship with limited accommodation, so her officers gave up their quarters to Pericles' female survivors.

[7] The Royal Humane Society of Australasia gave awards to the three keepers of the Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse for their effort rescuing Pericles' passengers and crew.

The court heard that Penguin had taken soundings at 1 nautical mile (1.9 km) intervals, and had missed the pinnacle that Pericles had struck.

[7] On 14 April the court found that Captain Simpson and his officers had exercised proper care and vigilance in planning Pericles' course, navigating her and determining her position.

Therefore, on 22 April 1910 Captain Irvine posted a notice to mariners in the Government Gazette of Western Australia warning of the wreck at in the position that Penguin reported, and of the rock somewhere in the vicinity in about 24 feet (7.3 m) of water.

[7] A fisherman from nearby Busselton acquired one of Pericles' lifeboats, rigged her as a cutter, named her Rose and used her for fishing.

[7] Less than 10 days after Pericles sank, it was reported that Aberdeen Line had ordered "a duplicate steamer" to replace her, which would be ready for her maiden voyage to Australia in March or April 1911.

[7] The Western Australian Museum has an Aberdeen Line house flag that one of Pericles' engineers saved from the ship before she sank.

[16] Snider gave two bronze valves from the ship to the then Harbour Master of Fremantle, Captain FHB Humble.