SS Gracechurch was a 4,318 GRT cargo ship built by William Doxford & Sons at Pallion on Wearside in 1930. She had nine corrugated furnaces with a combined grate area of feeding three 180 lbf/in2 single-ended boilers with a combined heating surface of . She was first owned by Gracechurch Shipping Co of Newcastle and managed by James, Muers & Co of Cardiff.