Named for Fortune Bay, located in Newfoundland, the vessel served in the Royal Canadian Navy for ten years before being sold for commercial purposes.

The Bay class were designed and ordered as replacements for the Second World War-era minesweepers that the Royal Canadian Navy operated at the time.

[2][note 1] The Bay-class minesweepers were powered by two GM 12-cylinder diesel engines driving two shafts creating 2,400 brake horsepower (1,800 kW).

[8] After nine years of naval service, including acting as the flagship of the Second Canadian Minesweeping Squadron during the Cuban Missile Crisis,[9] Fortune was decommissioned on 28 February 1964.

[6][11] The vessel was then refitted as the charter yacht MV Edgewater Fortune[4][12] and was used for short cruises along the coast of British Columbia.