West Cawthon was a steam cargo ship built in 1919 by Southwestern Shipbuilding Co. of San Pedro for the United States Shipping Board (USSB) as part of the wartime shipbuilding program of the Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC) to restore the nation's Merchant Marine. Initially, the vessel was placed in the Pacific trade, but was soon acquired by the Green Star Steamship Co. and was put on the Gulf to the Mediterranean route. In 1923 Green Star Steamship Co. went bankrupt and vessel was bought back by USSB. The freighter then spent next two years serving the Mediterranean ports of Italy and Spain before being laid up late in 1924. In 1926 the vessel was bought by the American-South African Line and for the next fourteen years continuously sailed between the East Coast of the United States and