Lost 1943 - Former luxury yacht; US Army harbour boat / troop transport
The Colonel William G. Ball started life in 1929 as the Sialia, a luxury yacht built by George Lawley & Son of Neponset, Massachusetts, and was later renamed Egeria. In 1941 the US Army Transportation Corps bought her, gave her the name Colonel William G. Ball and fitted her out to carry troops; in wartime Bermuda she served as a local harbour boat.
In June 1943 her captain, Fred Anderson, was bringing her back to port in a severe storm when she struck Mills Breaker, a shallow reef off the East End, and sank. The Army's investigation found that the buoy meant to warn ships off the breaker had broken free of its mooring and disappeared in the heavy seas.
She lies on the same reef as the British sailing ship Beaumaris Castle, lost there 70 years earlier, and was featured on a Bermuda Monetary Authority shipwreck coin in 2007.
A shallow wreck in 15-26 ft, easy for beginners and good for snorkelling in calm conditions, usually dived together with the Beaumaris Castle on the same breaker. Mills Breaker is on the exposed eastern edge of the reef platform, so calm weather is needed. Published guides give little detail of what remains.
Approximate position, for interest only - never use for navigation.