She was built for the British & African Steam Navigation Company (BASN), which was part of Elder, Dempster & Co. She was the hospital ship HMHS Ebani from 1914 until 1919.

Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company at Hebburn on the River Tyne launched Ebani and Eboe in 1912.

Irvine's Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company in West Hartlepool on the River Tees launched Eloby in 1912 and Elele in 1913.

[5] Ebani had a single screw, driven by a three-cylinder triple-expansion engine of Palmer's own manufacture.

Two days later, on 7 August, Ebani was en route from Sierra Leone to Monrovia when the gunboat HMS Dwarf stopped her off the coast of West Africa.

A voluntary committee in Cape Town chartered Ebani, and had her converted into a hospital ship with cots for 300 to 400 patients, or 508 in an emergency.

[9] On 1 December 1914 Viscountess Buxton inaugurated Ebani at Cape Town as a hospital ship.

[citation needed] That month the ship carried a field ambulance unit to Walvis Bay,[11] arriving on 24 December.

[12] She stayed at Walvis Bay as a temporary base hospital until a permanent one was established ashore,[13] and left on 28 January 1915.

[14] During February, March, May and June 1915 she made a number of trips evacuating casualties from Walvis Bay to South Africa.

The U-boat stopped Ebani, examined her papers, and allowed her to rescue survivors from the cargo ship.

She operated mostly in the Indian Ocean, evacuating casualties from ports in Kenya and German East Africa.

Ebani visited Port Amelia (now Pemba) at least seven times from April to November 1918,[27][28][33] and also the Island of Mozambique that August.

[23][29] In just over four years as a hospital ship, Ebani carried more than 50,000 personnel and steamed 500,000 nautical miles (930,000 km).

They were managed by the Flota Mercante del Estado ("State Merchant Fleet");[34] and registered in Buenos Aires.