Originally named Egglestone, she was acquired by E. E. Hadjilias, Syros and renamed after Pēleús (Greek: Πηλεύς), the mythical King of Aegina, and father of Achilles.

She worked under charter for the British government during the war, and operated in the South Atlantic, until her loss in March 1944 when she was torpedoed and sunk by U-852.

Eck took two men aboard for interrogation, Agis Kefalas, the third officer, and Pierre Neuman, a seaman; having established her name and details, he returned them to their raft.

On 2 May 1944 U-852 was attacked and captured after running aground upon a reef at Cape Guardafui, northern Somalia, in the Indian Ocean; the surviving members of her crew were taken prisoner.

Three (Eck, August Hoffman, 2nd watch officer, and Walter Weispfennig, boat's doctor) were executed, and two others, Hans Lenz, chief engineer, and Wolfgang Schwender, Pilot, were imprisoned.