The boarding party, under Leutnant-zur-See Werner Sander, reported that she was the 9,289-ton Dutch Koninklijke Rotterdamsche Lloyd freighter Kertosono, on her way from New Orleans to Curacao via Freetown with a cargo of petrol, asphalt, timber and agricultural machinery consigned to British ports, with a crew of fifty-nine, and nine passengers, including four women and a baby.