She was built as the lake freighter Frank A. Augsbury for the George Hall Coal Company by Fraser, Brace, Ltd., of Trois-Rivières, Quebec and launched on 21 October 1922. Frank A. Augsbury was 2,051 GRT and 251 ft 2 in (76.6 m) by 43 ft 1 in (13.1 m) with draft of 18 ft 1 in (5.5 m) powered by a 1,400 horsepower triple expansion steam engine fired by two Scotch marine boilers burning was sold to Canada Steamship Lines in 1927 and renamed Granby. She was taken over by the Ministry of War Transport an