OPHIR represented changes in the standard design of Orient Line ships. Instead of having 4 masts and 2 funnels set close together, she had 2 masts and 2 funnels, set well apart, with the main public rooms set between them. The first large twin screw ship designed for the Australian mail service through the Suez canal. Popular with passengers for her luxurious accommodations, she was not a very economic vessel to run. Famous for being selected as the Royal Yacht for the 1901 World Tour of the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall (later George 5th and Queen Mary). During this tour she visted NZ, the first Orient liner to do so. After service in World War 1, was deemed not fit for reconversion at the war's end.