She was built by Charles Connell & Company, Glasgow for the Nourse Line, and named after the Ems River in north west Germany, and launched on 6 April 1893.

In 1910, the Ems was sold to Tønsberg Whaling Company of Norway.

She was resold in 1912 to another Norwegian owner and refitted as a whaling and guano ship.

In 1916 she was sold to the Argentine Whaling Company, was renamed the Fortuna but kept her Norwegian crew.

On 28 October 1927, she caught fire, 20 miles (32 km) off the Irish coast while on a voyage from Liverpool to South Georgia with coal and empty oil drums.