SS Empire Cobbett was a 9,811 GRT tanker which was built in 1942 by Furness Shipbuilding Co Ltd, Haverton Hill-on-Tees for the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT).

[3] Empire Cobbett was built for the MoWT,[1] who placed her under the management of Eagle Oil and Shipping Company Ltd, Middlesbrough.

Convoy HX 249 sailed from New York City on 23 July 1943 and reached Liverpool on 6 August.

Empire Cobbett was due to have joined this convoy, bound for Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire.

[7] Her name came from an earlier San Wilfrido, which had been launched for Eagle Oil in 1914 and sunk by a mine that same year.