SS Buresk was a 4,337-ton steamship built by Richardson, Duck and Company, Thornaby-on-Tees for Burdick and Cook, London in 1914.

[1] During World War I, Buresk was captured by the Imperial German Navy light cruiser SMS Emden while on her way to Hong Kong with a cargo of coal in 1914.

On 9 November 1914, the Royal Australian Navy light cruiser HMAS Sydney defeated Emden forcing her to run aground in the Cocos (Keeling) Islands in the Battle of Cocos.

Unaware of this, Buresk approached the islands to coal Emden again, then attempted to flee when she sighted Sydney.

The boarding party found that her inlet valves had been opened and irreparably damaged.