She was built as a passenger-cargo vessel under yard no 151 by the Nederlandse Scheepsbouw Mij, Amsterdam for the Koninklijke West-Indische Maildienst, Amsterdam.
October 1915 ordered.
1918 Intended name "PRINS WILLEM" V but before launching renamed in "STUYVESANT", named after the first Dutch Governor of Nieuw Amsterdam (New York), Peter Stuyvesant.
13 March 1918 launched.
Tonnage 4.285 BRT, 2.541 NRT, dim. 342.0 x 47.6ft.
One 8-cyl triple expansion steam-engine 309 nhp, speed 12.5 knots.
Passenger accommodation for 42 first and 20 second class.
Dec. 1918 delivered to owners.
Used in the service from the Netherlands first to the Dutch islands of the Lesser Antilles, then to Venezuela, Curaçao, Colombia, Jamaica, Porto Barrios, Costa Rica, homeward bound via the English port of Plymouth.
1927 After the Koninklijke West Indische Paket Dienst was liquidated taken over by the N.V. Koninklijke Nederlandse Stoomboot Mij. (KNSM), Amsterdam.
After a refit in 1930 her passenger accommodation was increased to 52 first, 12 second and 40 third class, and mostly used in the service between New York and the West Indies.
During the Second World War between July 1940 and August 1941 used as a hotel-ship at Falmouth and Holyhead.
Then the next three years, sailed mostly as a commodore ship in convoys between Liverpool and West Africa.
When sailing in convoy SL 119 which sailed from Freetown on 14 Aug. 1942 was the convoy attacked by the Wolfpack U-boat group Blücher under which the "U-566" under command of Capt.Gerhard Remus, between the Azores and Portugal. The "U-56"6 attacked the convoy on 28 August and her torpedoes hit two vessels of the convoy, the Dutch "ZUIDERKRUIS" and the English "CITY OF CARDIF" which both were lost.
After the war passenger accommodation only 95 in one class.
1950 Sold to Cia. Nav. Del Atlantico S.A., Panama (Hellenic Mediterranean Lines Co. Ltd., Piraeus), renamed "AEOLIA".
1955 Transferred to the Hellenic Mediterranean Lines Co., Ltd., Piraeus.
1960 Sold to Mitsui Bussan Kaisha and she sailed on 16 Feb. 1960 from Singapore for her last voyage to Tokyo, she was broken up at Tsuneyoshi, Hiroshima Pref., Japan.
Surinam 1977 95c sg889, scott483
Source: Scheepvaart van de Lage Landen, Passagiersschepen op Afrika en Latijns Amerika. by A.Lagendijk. Geschiedenis van de Nederlandse Koopvaardy in de Tweede Wereldoorlog, by K.W.L.Bezemer. Register of Merchant Ships Completed in 1918. ".