In June 1940 as part of Operation Aerial it brought 33 French scientists including Lew Kowarski and Hans Halban, and their families to Britain before the Fall of France.

[2] Her draught was 25 feet 9 inches (7.85 m)[3] She was propelled by a three-cylinder triple expansion engine, with a single drive shaft and screw.

Soon after the Second World War broke out, Paulsen found himself in charge of the line's newest ship, and the most valuable cargo it had ever carried.

[5][7][8] Paris had fallen the previous day, and Paulsen agreed that once his cargo was discharged, he would take on refugees and carry them to England.

They had escorted thirty-three eminent scientists and technicians, including Lew Kowarski and Hans Halban, along with their families, from Clermont Ferrand to Bordeaux, and arranged for their passage to England on Broompark.

Originally from Norway, it was a vital ingredient in nuclear energy research that would find use in the British Tube Alloys project.

The diamonds and the heavy water were strapped to the deck on wooden pallets, so that if the ship was sunk they might float free, and possibly be recovered.

With his chief engineer and the seven other crewmen on board, he had ballast pumped into the leeward bilge to lift the ship onto an even keel, and Broompark continued the voyage under its own steam.

[13] On 25 July 1942, Broompark, now under the command of Captain John Leask Sinclair was en route to New York with convoy ON-113.