[1] She ran on the Southampton-Cowes route until the outbreak of World War II, when she was requisitioned and served as HMS Gracie Fields as a minesweeper.

After successfully evacuating troops from the Dunkirk beaches, she was seriously damaged by an aircraft bomb on 29 May 1940, and sank the following morning.

Laid down as Yard No.1149 by John I. Thornycroft & Company at Woolston for The Southampton, Isle of Wight and South of England Royal Mail Steam Packet Company Limited, known as Red Funnel, the paddle steamer Gracie Fields had a tonnage of 396 GRT.

[2] The ship was propelled by a diagonal compound steam engine of 137 nhp, also made by Thornycroft and giving a service speed of 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph).

[5] HMS Pangbourne attempted to tow the damaged vessel back to England but Gracie Fields sank in the night.