Verna Paulin was a 7,046 GRT cargo ship that was built in 1942 as Empire Envoy by Short Brothers Ltd, Sunderland, Co Durham, United Kingdom for the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT).
The United Kingdom Official Number 169107 and Code Letters were allocated.
[3] Empire Envoy made her maiden voyage on 3 January 1943, when she sailed from Sunderland to join Convoy FN 907,[6] which had departed from Southend, Essex the previous day and arrived at Methil, Fife on 4 January.
As no rendezvous point had been given,[5] she put into St. John's, Newfoundland for orders,[6] which resulted in a delay.
Empire Envoy was in the part of the convoy that formed KMS 13 and arrived at Gibraltar on 26 April.
She sailed on 28 May to join Convoy OS 48,[6] which formed at sea on 29 May and arrived at Freetown on 7 June.
[15] She detached from the convoy and sailed to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, arriving on 27 June.
She was carrying a cargo of manganese ore and two passengers, bound for the Barry Roads.
Empire Envoy was in the part of the convoy which formed KMS 29 and arrived at Gibraltar on 20 October.
Empire Envoy then sailed to Abadan, from where she departed on 27 December for Bahrain, arriving on 1 January 1944.
[6] She was a member of Convoy DKA 15, which sailed on 11 March and arrived at Aden on 1 April.
She sailed on 28 September, making a return trip to Rosario and arriving back at Buenos Aires on 1 October.
[6] Empire Envoy departed on 7 December for Newport, Monmouthshire, arriving that day.
[24] She left the convoy and proceeded to The Downs, off the coast of Kent, arriving on 20 March.
[25] She arrived at Sydney, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia on 29 April, sailing on 5 May for an unrecorded destination.
Empire Envoy then sailed to Suez, from where she departed on 30 September for Bombay, arriving on 12 October.
[6] In 1946, Empire Envoy was sold to the Thompson Steam Shipping Co Ltd, London and was renamed Cheltenham.
In 1952, Cheltenham was sold to Buries, Markes Ltd, London and was renamed La Orilla.
[1] She was transferred in 1954 to Louis Dreyfus & Co, the French owners of Buries, Markes.
In 1962, Stallberg was sold to Paulins Rederi AB, Turku, Finland and renamed Verna Paulina.
[2] The Finnish Official Number 1412 and Code Letters OGGX were allocated and she was assessed as Ice Class II and 4,118 NRT.
From 1962–63, her draught was recorded as 20 feet 9 inches (6.32 m), reverting to 26 feet 9 inches (8.15 m) from 1964, in which year she was sold to Kommanditbolaget AB Paulin Chartering Oy & Co.[4] On 25 February 1964, a crewman on Verna Paulin was injured in a fall whilst the ship was in the vicinity of Souda Bay, Greece.