SS Nautilus, a 300-ton vessel, was built in 1913 in Hamburg, Germany and originally named Activo.

Activo fell into British hands, probably as a captured German ship, who re-registered her under the name SS Nautilus, and they in turn sold her to the Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) government, which was then part of the British Empire, for deep sea fishing.

The ship was purchased to support deep sea fishing for Malabar Fisheries, a sardine canning company in Chaliyam, Calicut.

[1] Due to the start of World War II, the British naval authorities in Cochin demanded that the ship be handed over to them for defence purposes.

She was then used on patrol in the Arabian Sea guarding the west coast of India.