SS Cufic was a livestock carrier, built by Harland & Wolff for the White Star Line, measuring 4,639 gross registered tons, and completed on 1 December 1888.[3] Her sister ship was the SS Runic (1889). She ran the Liverpool to New York route. In 1896, Cufic was chartered to a Spanish shipping company and was renamed Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe and transported horses between Spain and Cuba.
In 1898, Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe was returned to the White Star Line and the ship was renamed Cufic. She was then moved to the Dominion Line in 1901, with her name being changed to Manxman. She was later sold on to a Canadian shipping line. Manxman was used as a troop transport in 1917 and in 1919, she was sold to her new owners in New York.
On 18 December 1919, Manxman foundered in the North Atlantic with the loss of around 40 crew whilst transporting wheat from Portland, Maine to Gibraltar.[4] The ship was in terrible weather. 19 people were rescued by the SS British Isles.