Information on the Tanker 'British Sergeant from World War II

[David Pointon]

Hello

Believe that you are trying to contact me re the above.From the message string, looks like you have found her, and the position given is slightly further offshore than I was told.

If you need any help let me know.

Would like to know her condition, as at some stage plan to dive her. Do you have any pictures ?


Regards

[Mark Powell]

Hi Naren and David. Its great to find that someone else is also interested in the history of this wreck.

In July 2011 I led an expedition to dive HMS Hermes and to also search for for some of the other wrecks sunk at the same time.

There was a blog published at the time which is available here. HMS Hermes Expedition - Sri Lanka : Fourth Element Adventures Take a look at day 5 which is the first day we dived this wreck. Initially I had hoped it might be HMS Hollyhock but as you will see from the dive details it was not a Flower Class Corvette but was clearly a merchant ship. On Day 6 we dived it again and had a better look. After comparing the wreck with pictures of the British Sergeant I saw that the overall size, location of the engine and general layout all matched the British Sergeant.

I have attached the sketch I took at the time. I have foreshortened the forwards part of the sketch but you can still see that it matches the overall layout of the British Sergeant. The location of the bridge, the engine at the back and the layout of the stern are all a good match.
British Sergeant Sketch.jpg

I will be going back in June to do some further exploration and try to find further evidence.