and June reported on West Ekonks departure to and arrival from Hamburg. After being laid up in a reserve fleet in Norfolk, Virginia, some time after mid 1920, West Ekonk was one of two ships reactivated for service out of Los Angeles in early 1924. By early 1926, however, West Ekonk was sailing from Galveston, Texas, to Liverpool, sometimes carrying passengers in addition to freight. In December 1927, West Ekonks master and chief engineer each received a $50 bonus from the Conservation Committee of the Merchant Fleet Corporation when West Ekonk was named to an honor roll for efficient operation; they were one of 50 duos so honored. On 23 December 1928, West Ekonk was anchored in the River Thames at Gravesend, Kent, United Kingdom when she was struck by the British cargo ship and sustained damage to her port bow. In 1933, West Ekonk was sold to Lykes Brothers Steamship Company and home-ported at Houston, Texas. West Ekonk sailed for the Dixie UK Line, a subsidiary operation of Lykes, for most of 1935, sailing between Galveston and Liverpool. By December 1935, West Ekonk had begun sailing for another subsidiary of Lykes Brothers, the Ripley Steamship Company, and continued sailing on the same Galveston–Liverpool route through September 1937. West Ekonks activities over the next three years are not recorded. World War II In November 1940, while the United States was still neutral, the United States Maritime Commission (USMC), a successor to the USSB, granted Lykes Brothers permission to sell West Ekonk and five other cargo ships to the British Ministry of War Transport (MoWT). After West Ekonk took on a load of steel and scrap, the ship sailed to Halifax, where she joined convoy HX 99 in sailing for Liverpool on 26 December 1940. On 30 December, the ship's compass went out but West Ekonk was able to remain in her station in the convoy, and safely arrived at Liverpool on 11 January 1941, despite sailing through a gale with sleet storms on 4 January. In his notes for the convoy, P. E. Parker, the convoy's commodore, singled out H. MacKinnon, master of West Ekonk, for praise of his seamanship in keeping West Ekonk in the convoy without a working compass. After her arrival at Liverpool, West Ekonk was renamed Empire Wildebeeste—MoWT ships taking a name prefixed with "Empire" and joined westbound convoy OB 293 in sailing for the United