Manager: Alfred I. Thommesen, Arendal
Tonnage: 759 (799?) gt

Built by Hausweert, N.V.W. Zeeland in 1918. Previous name from 1925 Sortland (Vesteraalens Dampskibsselskab), sold to Arendal in 1939 and renamed Royal.

Captain: Harald Skaugen.

Her voyages are listed on these original images from the Norwegian National Archives:
Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Page 5 | Page 6 | Page 7 | Page 8 | Page 9 | Page 10 | Page 11 | Page 12 | Page 13 | Page 14

Please compare the above voyages with Arnold Hague's Voyage Record below.

Voyage Record From March-1940 to Apr.-1945:

Follow the convoy links provided for more information on each (it'll be noticed, that some of the listings are incomplete).

Errors may exist (this could also mean that she may not have sailed in all the convoys mentioned here, even though she's listed in them). Also, as can be seen, this record is incomplete.

	Departure	From	To	Arrival	Convoy	Remarks
1940	March 7	Norwegian Waters	Methil	March 10	HN 17	–
	March 19	Methil	Norwegian Waters	March 23	ON 21	–
	Apr. 4	Norwegian Waters	Methil	Apr. 7	HN 24	Missing voyages, Page 1
	Dec. 3	Clyde	Methil	Dec. 8	WN 49	Compare w/Page 1. Convoy available at WN convoys (external link)
	Dec. 13	Clyde	Methil	Dec. 17	WN 53	Arrived Dundee, Dec. 17 (Page 1 - Also, missing voyages). Convoy available at link above
1941	Sept. 22	Southend	Methil	Sept. 24	EC 76	Earlier 1941 voyages: Page 1 & Page 2 Convoy available at EC convoys (external link) Missing voyages: Page 2 above & Page 3
?	Oct. 19	Southend	Methil	Oct. 21	EC 88	Compare w/Page 3 (also, missing voyages). Convoy available at link above
	Dec. 18	Methil	Inverness	Dec. 21	EN 21	Convoy available at EN convoys (external link) Again, see also Page 3.
1942	Aug. 7	Methil	Holyhead	Aug. 9*	EN 121	Earlier 1942 voyages: Page 3 & Page 4 Convoy available at link above. *Page 5 gives arrival Holyhead Aug. 14, via Ardrossan.
	Aug. 14	Holyhead	Cardiff*	Aug. 16	BB 209	*Arrived Swansea (Page 5 - Also, missing voyages). Convoy available at BB convoys (external link)
	Her 1943 voyages start on Page 6 and continue on Page 7, Page 8 and Page 9.
1944	June 5	Barry	Seine Bay	–	EBC 2Y	Earlier 1944 voyages: Page 9 above & Page 10 Convoy available at EBC convoys (external link)
	Most of these 1944 voyages are not detailed on the archive documents and, therefore, it's difficult to compare and confirm accuracy.
	June 24	Solent	Seine Bay	June 25	EBC 20	Convoy available at link above
	June 28	Seine Bay	Solent	June 29	FBC 12	Convoy available at FBC convoys (external link)
	July 1	Barry	Seine Bay	July 3	EBC 28	Convoy available at EBC convoys (external link)
	July 9	Barry	Seine Bay	July 11	EBC 36	Convoy available at link above
	July 15	Seine Bay	Southampton	July 16	FBC 28	Convoy available at FBC convoys (external link)
	July 28	Barry	Seine Bay	July 30	EBC 55	Convoy available at EBC convoys (external link) Page 10 gives departure Southampton, July 30
	Aug. 7	Seine Bay	Southampton	Aug. 8	FBC 47	Convoy available at FBC convoys (external link)
	Aug. 12	Solent	Seine Bay	Aug. 12	EBC 68	Convoy available at EBC convoys (external link)
	Aug. 17	Seine Bay	Southampton	Aug. 18	FBC 57	(Again, compare w/Page 10). Convoy available at FBC convoys (external link)
	Aug. 25	Solent	Seine Bay	Aug. 25	EBC 81	Convoy available at EBC convoys (external link)
	Aug. 31	Seine Bay	Southampton	Sept. 1	FBC 69	Convoy available at FBC convoys (external link)
	Sept. 10	Solent	Seine Bay	Sept. 10	EBC 97	Convoy available at EBC convoys (external link)
	Nov. 9	Plymouth	St Malo	Nov. 10	COC 4	See also Page 10 & Page 11 Convoy available via this page (external link)
	Nov. 14	Granville	Plymouth	Nov. 15	Escorted	Page 11 gives arrival Nov. 17 (also, missing voyages)
	Nov. 24	Plymouth	Granville	Nov. 26	COC 11	Convoy available at link above
	Dec. 3	Granville	Falmouth	Dec. 4	Escorted	–
	Dec. 4	Falmouth	Mumbles	Dec. 5	EBF 55	Convoy available at link above. Missing voyages, Page 11
	Dec. 10	Plymouth	Granville	Dec. 12	COC 19	Convoy available at link above
	Dec. 14	Granville	Falmouth	Dec. 15	Escorted	Missing voyages, Page 11
1945	Jan. 1	Plymouth	Granville	Jan. 2	COC 37	Convoy available at link above
	Jan. 5	Cancale Roads	Falmouth	Jan. 6	–	–
	Jan. 7	Falmouth	Cardiff	Jan. 8	TBC 29	Convoy available at TBC convoys (external link)
?	Jan. 12	Milford Haven	Southend	Jan. 15	BTC 36	Compare w/Page 11. Convoy available at BTC convoys (external link)
	Jan. 14	Plymouth	Granville	Jan. 15	COC 50	Convoy available via this page (external link)
	Jan. 21	Cancale Roads	Barry	Jan. 23	TBC 44	A. Hague says: "Joined off Lizard". Convoy available at TBC convoys (external link) Left Barry Jan. 31 (Page 11)
	Febr. 2	Plymouth	Granville	Febr. 3	COC 68	Had arrived Plymouth, Febr. 1 (Page 12). Convoy available via this page (external link)
	Febr. 6	Cancale Roads	Milford Haven	Febr. 8	TBC 60	Joined off Lizard. Convoy available at TBC convoys (external link) Page 12 gives arrival Port Talbot (Also, missing voyages)
	Febr. 13	Plymouth	Granville	Febr. 14	COC 78	Convoy available via this page (external link)
	Febr. 16	Cancale Roads	Falmouth	Febr. 17	–	–
	Febr. 19	Falmouth	Cardiff	Febr. 20	TBC 71	Convoy available at TBC convoys (external link) Missing voyages, Page 12
	March 20	Plymouth	Granville	March 20	COC 110	Convoy available via this page (external link)
	March 24	St Malo	Mumbles	March 26	–	Again, see also Page 12
	Apr. 11	Granville	Falmouth	Apr. 12	–	–
	Apr. 12	Falmouth	Newport	Apr. 13	TBC 124	Convoy available at TBC convoys (external link) Left Newport, Apr. 17 (Page 12).
	Apr. 21	Falmouth	Granville	Apr. 22	COC 142	Convoy available via this page (external link)
	Apr. 25	Cancale Roads	Falmouth	Apr. 26	–	Compare w/Page 12
	Apr. 26	Southend(?)	Pt Talbot	Apr. 27	TBC 138	Convoy available at TBC convoys (external link) Subsequent voyages: Page 12, Page 13 & Page 14

Some Convoy Voyages:

Royal, bound for Granton with paper pulp, is listed in the original Advance sailing Telegram for Convoy HN 17 from Norway to the U.K. early in March-1940, returning to Norway later that month with Convoy ON 21, according to A. Hague (see also Svinta, Erling Lindøe and Tora Elise). The following month, she joined Convoy HN 24, which arrived Methil Roads from Norway on Apr. 7; in other words, she got out of Norway just before the Germans invaded (Apr. 9). Follow the links for more convoy details - several Norwegian ships took part.

Apart from a couple of voyages to France (see Page 1), she was subsequently in service around the U.K., manned mostly by Lithuanians and Estonians early in the war, except for the officers and 2 men who were Norwegian. As mentioned, when Norway was invaded on Apr. 9-1940, Royal was in a British port and was meant to go to Gothenburg with coal, but this did not come to pass. She was requisitioned by the Navy and used for a while as "landing vessel", stationed in the Leith fjord, Scotland, where soldiers were trained in landing maneuvers.

She later took part in the Normandy invasion, arriving with ammunition, food and 60 soldiers on June 6-1944, departing on June 17, according to "Nortraships flåte", then made numerous trips back and forth to Normandy (these voyages are not included on Page 10 of the archive docs).

POST WAR:

Arrived Arendal with a cargo of coal at war's end (according to Page 14, she went home to Norway in Febr.-1946). Her double decks, which had been removed when purchased in 1939, were re-installed at Pusnes Mek. Verksted, Tromøy, after she had been chartered to a Danish company for use as horse transport Denmark-Poland. After being in this service for about a year, carrying around 200 horses each trip, she made a few voyages transporting cows from Denmark to Leningrad, before being sold to Sweden in 1949. Ran aground near Trelleborg shortly afterwards.