She was powered by two Parsons steam turbines,[2] double reduction geared and driving a single screw propeller.

Hopestar was operated under the management of Arthur Stott & Co Ltd.[5] Her port of registry was Newcastle upon Tyne.

[2] In 1938, her managers were changed to Stott, Mann & Fleming Ltd.[5] When the Second World War broke out, Hopestar was at Bunbury, Western Australia.

She sailed that day for London, which was reached on 28 November 1939 via Fremantle, Durban, Cape Town, Freetown and Belfast.

[6] Hopestar was then out of service for three months, departing from the Belfast Lough on 25 March 1941 for the River Tyne, where she arrived on 1 April.

She was then out of service until 2 August when she sailed from Sunderland, County Durham on a voyage that would take her to Freetown, Cape Town, Durban, Aden, Suez, Port Said, Alexandria, Beirut and Haifa, which was reached on 20 December.

Hopestar returned to the United Kingdom via Port Said, Suez, Aden, Mauritius, Durban and Freetown.

She sailed a week later on a voyage that would take her to New York, Key West, Trinidad, Cape Town, Durban and Bombay, India, where she arrived on 28 October 1942.

Hopestar departed on 25 August for a return trip across the Atlantic Ocean to Boston, Massachusetts, United States.

Hopestar returned to Liverpool on 12 June, sailing two weeks later for Charleston, South Carolina, United States, which is where she was when the war finally ended.

On 14 November 1948, Hopestar was reported to be 450 nautical miles (830 km) off St John's, Newfoundland, Canada.

[9] On 24 November, Captain W. R. Richards of the United States Coast Guard said "we feel that there is little possibility that any survivors are left alive.