Built as a passenger- cargo vessel under yard No 63 by Aalborg Værft at Aalborg, Denmark for the Icelandic State Shipping Company.
08 July 1939 launched as the ESJA (II).
Tonnage 1.347 gross, 740 net, 500dwt., dim. 209.11 x 35.8 x 12.11ft.
Powered by two Atlas diesels 1.250 hp., speed 16 knots.
Accommodation for 148 passengers in a first and second class.
September 1939 completed.
She was built for the coastal service around Iceland.
When she was one year old she was sent to Petsamo, Northern Finland in the autumn of 1940 to fetch 258 Icelanders who had been caught up in the Nordic Countries due to World War II.
Five years later in June 1945, the ESJA was the first Icelandic vessel to sail from Europe and carry over 300 passengers to Iceland. Most were Icelanders who had been unable to return from Europe during wartime.
1969 Sold to Navigation Granbahama S.A., Panama renamed LUCAYA.
1973 Renamed by owners in VENTURA BEACH.
1977 Sold to Tiki Services (Nigeria) Ltd., Nigeria, renamed NWAKUSO.
1979 Renamed VENTURA BEACH, registered in Panama.
28 July 1979 she foundered off the Mesurado River, Liberia.
Iceland 1991 30k sg780, scott745d.
Source: Icelandic Post press release. Register of Merchant Ships completed in 1939.