SS Lapland

The following presents new data collected as part of a recent Historic Scotland funded project – the Scapa Flow 2013 Marine Archaeology Survey – which aimed to assess the extent and condition of some of the sites around Scapa Flow.

A British steel steamship the SS Lapland was built in 1890 by W. B. Thompson & Co. Ltd., Dundee as SS Ptarmigan for the Cork Steamship Co., Ltd., Cork. The SS Ptarmigan was sold in 1903 to British & So. American Steam Navigation Co., Ltd. (R. P. Houston & Co.), Liverpool and renamed SS Dauntless. She was only named SS Lapland in 1907 when she was purchased by Liverpool & Hamburg SS. Co., Ltd. (D. Currie & Co.), Liverpool.  She was requisition by the Admiralty in 1914 and was scuttled as a blockship in East Weddell Sound on the 16^th September 1915 (ADM1-8128-216 and ADM X96-4)

Historical maps documenting the location of the various blockships suggest that the remains of the SS Lapland are likely to be under Churchill Barrier 3. Although the 1972 Undermarine Operations surveys and subsequent records (Macdonald 1993: 148) noted wreckage protruding from Barrier 3, this was not identified in the side scan surveys completed during the Scapa Flow 2013 Marine Archaeology Survey project.

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