The first Carisbrooke Castle in the [Union] Castle Line's fleet was a three-masted square-rigger sold in 1889 when the company finally took the decision to dispose of its last two sailing ships in favour of steam. Her successor -- despite the stigma of incorrectly spelling her name without the 'e' of Carisbrooke -- likewise bridged two eras in the company's history and was not only the final single-screw front line vessel in the fleet, but also the first to have her premier class accommodation placed amidships, as had become standard practice on the North Atlantic, instead of in the stern.

The second Carisbrook Castle was built in Glasgow, by Fairfield's, and laid down at the turn of 1897-98. A single-funnelled steel steamer sporting three masts, she was registered at 7,626 tons gross (4,246 net) and measured 485 feet in length with a 56 foot beam. Designed with two main decks and a spar deck, she had accommodation for 250 First Class passengers amidships and 140 Second Class aft. Somewhat old-fashioned in appearance, even down to squared yards on her foremast, she would soon acquire a formidable reputation as a roller in heavy weather but she was nevertheless fast and, when pushed to her maximum speed of 17½ knots, could outrun all her Castle Line contemporaries. Driving her single screw was one of her builder's own quadruple-expansion 4-cylinder engines capable of 1,490nhp. (8,500ihp.) which was fired from 3 single and 3 double-ended boilers to give a normal cruising speed of 16 knots. Completed in April 1898, she entered service on the company's main U.K. to Cape Town route and the following year made the run in 14 days, 17 hours and 3 minutes, second only to the famous Union liner Scot's record time set in March 1893. On 8th March 1900, along with the rest of the fleet and the ships of the Union Line, she became part of the newly-styled Union-Castle Line and in June the same year made the last Cape sailing from London docks; thereafter Southampton became the terminus and at the same time, Carisbrook Castle lost her outdated foremast yards. In 1910, after a surprisingly short life of only twelve years, she was replaced on the principal Cape Town service by the brand-new Balmoral Castle and relegated to the role of reserve steamer.

After four years in reserve, the outbreak of the Great War heralded a new chapter in her career and she was commandeered by the authorities on 2nd August 1914, two days before the formal declaration of hostilities. Commissioned on 3rd September as a hospital ship with 439 beds, she was put to work in the English Channel ferrying wounded home from the western front but was soon perceived as being too large for the number of injured personnel she could carry. Transferred to the Army as a troopship for 1,500 men, her first mission was to Alexandria and she also took a Canadian Field Hospital to Salonika. Remaining in the Mediterranean for most of the War, she briefly returned to cross-Channel work in 1918 before ending her wartime service as an Ambulance Transport back in the Mediterranean after the Armistice. Released once again into Union-Castle control on 26th August 1919, she resumed her former sailings on the prestigious Cape mail service whilst the company's larger modern ships were being demobilised and refitted although this final reprieve lasted less than three years. When, in April 1922, the new Windsor Castle was completed, the ageing Carisbrook Castle was laid up at Netley whilst her fate was decided and she was broken up before the year was out.