This cargo-passengership was built under yard No 362 by the Neptune Shipyard of Wigham Richardson, Newcastle-on-the-Tyne for the Pacific Steam Navigation Co., Liverpool.
13 June 1900 launched under the name POTOSI.
Tonnage 6.167 gross, 3.823net, 5.810 dwt., dim. 400.5 x 50.4 x 33.4ft, draught 19ft.
Powered by two triple expansion reciprocating steam engines 600nhp, speed 14.5knots.
September 1900 completed.
While fitting out, she caught the attention of visiting officials of the Russian Volunteer Fleet (RVF) who where in the process of buying UK built ships, from funds that had been raised by public subscription by the Czar’s subjects.
25 August 1900 the POTOSI ran trials off the Tyne, and was almost immediately bought by the RVF.
She was hurriedly stripped of her original fittings, and refurbished with accommodation for 30 officers and 2000 troops, was renamed in KAZAN.
17 October 1900 sailed for Odessa, where she loaded stores and troops for the Russian Far Eastern Fleet.
When war broke out between Russia and Japan, her roll changed to that of a hospital ship.
02 January 1905 by the surrender of Port Arthur was she scuttled, and subsequently refloated by the Japanese navy, and claimed as a war-prize.
12 August 1905 incorporated in the Japanese Navy as the transport KASATO MARU (sometimes given as KASADO MARU in the Western spelling).
1906 Chartered out by the Japanese Navy to Tokyo Kisen, Kobe, Japan.
The next three years did she operate in the South America service.
1908 By three Japanese emigration agencies, a new life was offered to Japanese citizens in Brazil.
28 April 1908 the first group of Japanese emigrants sailed from Kobe in Japan on board the KASATO MARU for Santos, Brazil.
The KASATO MARU was the first Japanese vessel that was entering the port of Santos.
1910 The KASATO MARU was chartered by Osaka Shosen K.K., Osaka, and placed in the service between Kobe and Keelung, Taiwan, which was a great success, and the charterers bought the vessel in 1912.
Her accommodation was in that time modified to 36 first, 40 2nd and 451 3rd class passengers.
December 1916 Osaka Shosen K.K. opened a new service between Japan and the East Coast of South America via Cape Town, with the KASATO MARU; the service was a financial success.
1920 Reverted back to the Taiwanese service, after an extensive overhaul at the Mitsubishi yard in Nagasaki.
1930 Sold to Nippon Suisan Kaisha for breaking up, but instead she was converted to a crab cannery operating in the Sea of Okhotsk.
1934 Lloyd Register gives her owners as Shinko Suisan KK, Tokyo under the name KASADO MARU.
08 August 1945 she was sunk after an air raid by a Russian Beriev MBR-2 flying boat of the 2nd OMBAPP (Independent Sea Bomber Aviation Border regiment) off the mouth of the Kikhchik River.
The aircrew of four received all the Order of the Red Star.
Soviet sources say she caught fire and sank on the 10th.
Sources: Register of Merchant ships completed in 1900. Log Book. Dave Wright.
Japan has shown the pioneer emigrant vessel Nagato Maru, commemorating the 50th anniversary of her voyage to Brazil with the first Japanese emigrants in 1908. Launched in 1900 as the Potosi for the Pacific Steam Navigation Company by Wigham Richardson and Company, Newcastle on Tyne, she never flew the P.S.N.C. house-flag at sea for while fitting out she caught the attention of the Russian Volunteer Fleet officials who bought her in September 1900 and renamed her Kazan. Her original fittings were stripped and she was hurriedly fitted out for trooping, with accommodation for 20 officers and 2,000 men.
Directly she was delivered, she was put under the command of the Russian Admiral for the Far East and was eventually trapped in Port Arthur and fell into the hands of the Japanese on the evacuation. Renamed Kasato Maru when taken over by the Japanese Government Navy Department, she was chartered first to the Nippon Yusen Kaisha and then to the Osaka Shosen Kaisha who bought the ship in 1912. She was renamed Kasado Maru in 1919. A vessel of 6,209 gross tons, she was broken up in Japan during 1931.
Japan SG782, Brazil SG2314, Japan? Sea Breezes 9/58