In the Second World War she was used by the allies to transport supplies. Torpedoed 26 March 1943 in the Indian Ocean by the Japanese submarine I-8 commanded by Ariizumi. When she left for her final voyage her crew numbered 76 men including 10 gunners and 27 passengers, of which all most everyone was killed by the Japanese. She was then armed with 1-10.cm gun placed aft, 4 Oerlikons and some short distance rockets.
The newspaper Het Centrum dated Friday 13 October 1916 reported that this freighter annex passenger ship was launched last Wednesday afternoon The morning edition of the Algemeen Handelsblad dated 12 October supplied much more details. She was indeed launched on Wednesday afternoon of 11 October and subscribed as belonging to the highest class of Lloyds. Her dimensions were 420’0” (between perpendiculars) x 54’0” (maximum on trusses) x 30’0’ (hold below main deck), height steerage 7’6”, height poop deck and bridge deck 7’9”, height of the ‘bak’ 7’6” and height of bridge and the ‘sloops decks’. The displacement with a medium draught of 24’6” was 12,150 tons of each 1,016 kg. She was build conform the so-called 3-decks design. She had accommodation for 11 passengers 1st class, 24 passengers 2nd class and 57 passengers 3rd class and if necessary there was accommodation for the so-called ‘between decks passengers”. The triple expansion engine of 2,800 ihp was build by the Ned. Fabriek van Werktuigen en Spoorwegmateriaal Werkspoor at Amsterdam with as cylinder dimensions 27½“ x 45¼”x 74 and 51¼” stroke and 3 single Scottish boilers with a pressure of 180 lbs a square British inch and further more a total heating surface of 7,800 square British foot and 187 square British foot grating surface. The boilers were manufactured conform the James Howden&Co. system.
The Het nieuws van den dag voor Nederlandsch-Indië dated 19 April 1918 reported that a Dutch firm situated at the Kali Besar was informed on 18 April that the American government released the Tjisalak to be used by the Dutch government. Probably a reference to the seizure by the USA of Dutch merchant ships during the last years of the First World War. The Rotterdamsch Nieuwsblad dated 4 June reported that she was to be used on the line San Francisco-Batavia (nowadays Djakarta), Dutch East Indies (nowadays Indonesia). The morning edition of the Algemeen Handelsblad dated 25 September reported that she left on 20 September San Francisco via Hong Kong towards Java, Dutch East Indies.
