The ship was ordered from the British Tanker Company of London from Harland & Wolff and was laid down on 29 December 1936 with Yard number 975.

She was powered by Doxford diesel engines rated at 4,000 brake horsepower (3,000 kW), giving a speed of 11.5 knots (21.3 km/h; 13.2 mph).

[1] She spent the first year of the war operating between bases in Scotland and Norway, on 16 May 1940 she was attacked by four dive bombers and suffered minor damage from two near misses.

On 14 April 1944 she sustained minor damage from the explosion of the ammunition ship Fort Stikine, and then in August was accidentally torpedoed by the submarine HMS Severn, rupturing two tanks and killing one.

[1] After a brief trip back to the UK and the end of hostilities she was sent to the Far East, visiting Shanghai, Tokyo, Yokohama and Hong Kong.