The Alkimos is Perth's most notorious wreck, a Liberty ship with a long reputation for bad luck and ghost stories that gave its name to the suburb of Alkimos. She was built in 27 days in Baltimore in 1943 as the George M. Shriver for the US merchant navy and was leased to Norway as the Viggo Hansteen, crossing the North Atlantic several times in the Second World War. In 1944 a murder-suicide involving the ship's female radio operator occurred aboard. Renamed Alkimos in 1953, she ran aground south of Geraldton in 1963, beginning a series of mishaps in Western Australian waters, and while disabled off the northern Perth coast she broke her anchor and went ashore near what is now Alkimos Beach.

The 134 m, 7,176-ton steel freighter was once largely intact, but today she has collapsed except for the engine, which still breaks the surface. The Marine Life Network describes a submerged bow section and a flattened structure covered in kelp in 0–7 m. The site is well lit but very surgy after rough weather, and the unstable wreckage moves in surge.

Fish life includes buffalo bream, sweep, herring cale and wrasse around the kelp-covered steel.

The wreck's stories, including a missing swimmer's skull later found in the hull, have made it part of Perth folklore. As a dive it is shallow and needs near-flat conditions and careful anchoring. It suits Open Water divers interested in the story rather than in an intact wreck.

Water temperatures on this coast range from about 17–18 °C in late winter to 22–23 °C in late summer; a 7 mm wetsuit with a hood suits most of the year.

Launch at the Mindarie Marina public ramp (Mindarie Keys, off Marmion Avenue, about 40 minutes from the Perth CBD). The wreck lies about 20 minutes north of Mindarie, 320 m off Shorehaven Beach at S 31°36.614' E 115°39.424'. The engine is visible above the water.

Anchor in the sand holes on the southern side. It is close enough to the beach to see from shore, but divingwawrecks lists boat access from Mindarie, and the surf zone makes shore entry impractical.

The north-metro offshore sites face the open Indian Ocean with no island shelter. Swell comes mainly from the south-west and west, and the summer south-westerly sea breeze usually arrives late morning to early afternoon, making the run home rough. The wreck sits in shallow water close to the beach and is very surgy; divingwawrecks suggests diving only in swell under 0.5 m.

The collapsed structure is unstable in surge. Dive after several calm days, in the morning.

Anchor in sand on the southern side, dive around the engine and the flattened, kelp-covered hull in 2–7 m, keep clear of unstable sections and return to the anchor.

No regular operator; private boats from Mindarie.