Sold by the United States Maritime Commission in 1947, she served as a research vessel for the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey under the name SV John Biscoe.

Sold again in 1962, the ship, renamed Arctic Endeavour for sealing work in the northern hemisphere, foundered off the coast of Canada in November 1982.

The ship was laid down as Satinwood (YN-89), a net tender of the Ailanthus class, on 1 May 1943 at the American Car and Foundry Co. in Wilmington, Delaware.

Struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 28 March 1946, she was transferred to the United States Maritime Commission and sold on 20 July 1947 to the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey for $75,000.

After her first season of resupplying the FIDS bases in Stonington Island and Hope Bay, her hull was sheathed in 3 inches (7.6 cm) of greenheart timber to better cope with the ice conditions.