SS Gaelic was a steamship of the White Star Line, built by shipbuilders Harland & Wolff of Belfast.
The Gaelic (later the Hugo), was originally one of a pair of ships built by Harland and Wolff for the J.J. Bibby Company of Liverpool. Along with her sister ship, which was renamed SS Belgic, she was bought while still building by White Star for their South American routes. She was launched on 4 October 1872, though without a name.[2] Completed on 7 January 1873, she made her maiden voyage from Liverpool to Valparaiso on 29 January. However, White Star decided to abandon this route shortly after, and she was transferred to the Liverpool-New York run, making her first voyage on 10 July 1873. Gaelic made eight round voyages on this route.
On 15 January 1874, while making an eastbound crossing, she came to the assistance of the larger White Star ship SS Celtic (1872) when the latter vessel lost her propeller blades after striking wreckage in the Irish Sea. She towed the Celtic into Queenstown. From 3 June to 2 November 1874, she made four round voyages on the London-New York run, resuming her original run on 24 December of that year. On this occasion, she made two round voyages.
After the Britannic and Germanic entered service in 1874 and 1875, the new, faster and larger vessels made all previous White Star ships redundant, including Gaelic. On 29 May 1875, Gaelic, along with her sister ship Belgic and the company's first vessel Oceanic, was chartered to the