The Arctic Hunter was built as the fishing trawler Capel for F&T Ross of Hull. She was launched on 12th January 1929 and registered on 14th February 1929 with her official builder’s number of 160822. The vessel was of 356 tons (Gross) and 145 tons (nett), with an overall length of 145 feet and beam of 24.6 feet. Her steam reciprocating engines were built by C.D. Holmes and gave her a working speed of 10.9 knots.

On 26th April 1939 she was sold to the Boyd Line and re-named Arctic Hunter. In August 1939 she was requisitioned by the Admiralty as a minesweeper and given a pennant number of FY 1614. The vessel was principally involved in the clearance of magnetic mines from the English Channel and North Sea. She was armed with 1 x 12 pounder naval gun and 2 x 0.5 calibre machine guns and was credited with the destruction of 110 mines and a Dornier 217 bomber of the German Luftwaffe.

The Arctic Hunter was also involved in mine clearance operations prior to and during the Allied invasion of Europe on 6 June 1944 (D Day).

The Arctic Hunter was decommissioned in May 1945 and returned to fishing.

On 5th September 1945 she was bought by the Lord Line and renamed the Lord Foyle and continued to operate until 1952, when she was sold for scrap to the British Iron and Steel Corporation. She was allocated to Thomas Young & Sons Ltd. and on 6th October 1952 was moved to Sunderland to be broken up.