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17 Km west of Colombo
SL/W/COLO/M/15
SS Perseus · Athnagulpita Nava
- Period
- 1 st World War, Colonial - British
- Year sunk
- 1917
- District
- Colombo
- Depth
- 35.00–40.00 m
- Vessel type
- Passenger, Bulk Carrier
Overview
One of the two World War 1 wrecks in Sri Lanka (The other is the SS Worcestershire off Mount Lavinia). Both were victims of sea mines left by the epic Germain Commerce Raider SMS Wolf during World War 1.
The SS Perseus struck sea mines on the 21 of February 1917 and sank with the loss of about 3 lives.
It lies on seabed about 40m deep. The wreck is 135m long, 16m wide at its beam, and is lying on its port side. The bow and the stern are fairly intact, but in between the ship has broken upon sinking and in the mid-section, the keel is up. Two boilers can be seen spilled over to the seabed. Near the boilers firebricks can be found.The two masts are also intact, lying on sea bed. At the bow, two below deck complartments are visibles.
The bell of the ship, confirming the identity of the wreck, was recovered in March 2019 and has been handed over to the Maritime Archaeological Unit - CCF, Galle
Media gallery
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Location
District: Colombo
Province: Western
Depth profile
35–40 m
Protection & status
- Access
- None
- Legal status
- None
- Archaeological value
- High
- Degradation
- Very Fragile
- Authority
- MAU-CCF & DoA
- Threat
- Deterioration
- Threat
- Salvage
Vessel chronology
1917
Year sunk
1908 – 1917
Time period estimate
References & publications
- Jayawadena, D. (2016) Ghosts of the Deep - Diving the shipwrecks of Sri Lanka, Vijitha Yapa Publications, Colombo, pp.17-26.
- https://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?160311 - 2017.10.03
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