Originally built as an Admiralty Mersey-class trawler for use in the First World war George Bligh was registered in London but based at the port of Lowestoft, on the East Anglian coast.

[3] A fourth Mersey-class trawler, the John W Johnson was renamed Cape Agulhas was operated by the Newfoundland Fisheries Research Station for several months each year from 1931 to 1935.

To allow investigations to proceed before then, Commissioners made available a grant for charter of the trawler SS Joseph & Sarah Miles from the Fishermen's Mission, over the period May 1920 to May 1921.

[3] The need for financial stringency and a lack of fuel, brought about by a miner's strike, made it impossible to run her full time during her early days with the Ministry.

[3][2] By the mid 1930s the situation was improving, so much so that, not only did the RV George Bligh return to full-time working in 1935, but the Ministry made the gesture of sending the ship to Iceland in order to preserve continuity of Danish researches there, the Danish research vessel (and sister ship to the George Bligh) having been lost at sea in a collision.

[3] Alister Hardy, while working for the Lowestoft laboratory studied the planktonic food of North Sea herring (Clupea harengus) aboard RV George Bligh.

[3] In September 1939 RV George Bligh was requisitioned by the Admiralty and converted to a Boom Defence Vessel (Pennant number Z178).

[5] In January 1942 HMT George Bligh was listed among many similar Boom Defence Vessels allocated to the Scapa Flow Auxiliary Patrol in Orkney.

On 13 November 1954, George Bligh was sold as scrap to the British Iron & Steel Corporation (BISCO) for £2400, and arrived at Charlestown, Fife.