In January 1941 she was sold together with two other vessels to the New Zealand Shipping Co. and subsequently in 1942 was transferred to the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT) and renamed Empire Avocet.

[2][3] The ship was shelter-deck type, had two main decks and was built on the Isherwood principle of longitudinal framing providing extra strength to the body of the vessel.

As the ship was nearing her completion, she was assigned to McCormick & McPherson for one trip to carry flour to the East Coast of the United States or Europe.

[7] After acceptance, the vessel loaded 7,800 tons of flour in San Francisco and departed on 5 September 1919 bound for Norfolk and New York.

Cotati proceeded to load over 4,000 tons of fresh beef and pork in Boston before sailing out on New Year's Day 1920 bound for Rotterdam and Hamburg.

The freighter cleared out from Philadelphia on her first trip under new management on 21 April carrying general merchandise to South American ports of Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro and Montevideo.

On 18 December she picked up a distress call from Boston-based schooner Jane Palmer on her voyage from Newport News to Buenos Aires with a cargo of bituminous coal.

As the pumps could not cope with rising waters, the crew hastily abandoned the sinking schooner in one lifeboat and started rowing towards the steamer.

[22] Cotati then returned to South America one more time in April loading another full cargo of frozen beef and departed Buenos Aires for London on 26 May.

[citation needed] Following the dissolution of the Shipping Board under the Merchant Marine Act of 1936, Cotati was transferred to the United States Maritime Commission and remained part of the reserve fleet.

In August 1937 it was reported that Maritime Commission ordered 38 ships laid up at Fort Eustis, including Cotati, to be repainted and inspected.

[28] The sale was formally approved by the Maritime Commission in March of the same year, and Cotati together with two other vessels were transferred to the New Zealand Shipping Co.

[31] After finalizing the repairs, Cotati left Halifax with convoy SC-82 on 30 April, and safely arrived at Liverpool on 16 May after largely an uneventful journey.

[33] The freighter then left Liverpool on 21 July on her first voyage under new name as part of convoy OS-35 with a cargo of chemicals, machinery and general merchandise bound for South America.

[34] The ship left the convoy off the coast of Africa and proceeded independently to Montevideo and then to Buenos Aires, safely reaching her destination on 22 August.

[35] The steamer stopped and started taking on water immediately prompting the captain to order the crew to abandon ship.