Lithgows built Adviser as yard number 917; launched her on 23 February 1939; and completed her that April.[3] Her registered length was 445.5 ft (135.8 m); her beam was 56.5 ft (17.2 m); her depth was 29.6 ft (9.0 m); and her draught was 25 ft 9+1⁄2 in (7.86 m). Her tonnages were 6,348 GRT, 3,886 NRT,[4] and 9,000 DWT.[5] She had a very slightly raked bow, and a cruiser stern.[3]
On 18 December 1940, Adviser left Glasgow and joined Convoy WS 5A, which was outward bound from Liverpool. The convoy included a dozen troopships and two of Adviser's sister ships: Barrister and Settler. By 24 December, its escort included the heavy cruisersBerwick and Shropshire; light cruisersBonaventure and Dunedin; and aircraft carriersArgus and Furious.[8] At dawn on 25 December, the German cruiser Admiral Hipper attacked the convoy in the Atlantic, 700 nautical miles (1,300 km) west of Finisterre. Hipper attacked HMS Berwick; the merchant ships were ordered to disperse; and Bonaventure engaged Hipper. The German cruiser damaged Berwick and one of the troopships, Empire Trooper, but was forced to break off the attack. Adviser and her sister ships were undamaged.[9]
In Tamatave, Adviser loaded a cargo of graphite. On 6 November 1942 she reached Durban in South Africa, and on 14 November resumed her voyage, bound for Trinidad, New York, and the UK. At noon that day, U-178 sighted her and followed her. Aircraft attacked the U-boat at 14:23 hrs, but failed to damage it, and it resumed its pursuit of Adviser. At 23:23 hrs that night, U-178 fired two torpedoes, both of which missed. At 01:45 hrs on 15 November, the U-boat fired another two torpedoes, both of which hit Adviser, crippling her at position 32°03′S33°52′E / 32.050°S 33.867°E / -32.050; 33.867, about 200 nautical miles (370 km) southeast of Durban. U-178 saw her crew abandon ship, but then heard depth charges in the distance, and therefore had to leave the area without being able to wait to see whether the ship had sunk. In fact Adviser, despite being badly damaged, remained afloat, so her Master, Captain John Thurston Ling, and his crew, re-boarded her latre that morning. Two tugs towed her back to Durban, where she arrived on 19 November 1942. She was repaired there, and returned to service in August 1943.[11]
In 1949, there was a dispute between National Union of Seamen and Harrison Line about the condition of Adviser's crew accommodation. This led to a court hearing in Northfleet in Kent, between the NUS and the company. On 7 November that year, in the House of Commons, Sir Richard Acland, Bart, MP for Gravesend, asked James Callaghan, Minister of Transport, whether he would publish the reports about living conditions on the ship that his Department had received in recent weeks. Callaghan replied "Reports made by Ministry of Transport surveyors are confidential documents, but the facts were before the Court which tried cases concerning this ship at Northfleet and at which a surveyor gave evidence. As that evidence showed, an official of the National Union of Seamen agreed with the Surveyor that the accommodation was reasonable and habitable. It is not of the standard to be found in new ships and the owners have been asked to put right certain minor defects, and to consider the possibility of making improvements."[12]
In August 1952, at Blyth, Northumberland, Adviser was converted from coal to oil. On 4 or 5 September 1960 she arrived at Temse in Belgium, to be broken up by Jos. Boel & Fils.[7][3]
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