Empire Archer was built by Caledon Shipbuilding & Engineering Company, Dundee as yard number 395.

Convoy JW 51B sailed from Liverpool on 22 December 1942 and arrived at the Kola Inlet on 4 January 1943.

This convoy was unsuccessfully attacked on 31 December by German heavy warships in the Battle of the Barents Sea[4] Convoy RA 53 sailed from the Kola Inlet on 1 March 1943 and arrived at Loch Ewe on 14 March.

[7] Empire Archer was listed as a member of Convoy OS 89, sailing from Liverpool on 15 September 1944 bound for Freetown, Sierra Leone.

[9] Convoy JW 63 sailed from Loch Ewe on 30 December 1944 and arrived at the Kola Inlet on 8 January 1945.

[12] In 1946, Empire Archer was sold to H Hogarth & Sons, Glasgow and renamed Baron Murray.