SS Alert
The SS Alert was a steamship that sunk off Cape Schanck, Victoria, Australia on 28 December 1893.[1] The ship was built for the gentle waters of Scottish lochs and was almost 51 m (167 ft) long and weighed 247 tonnes.
After the Alert sunk the ship laid for 113 years on the ocean floor until being rediscovered in June 2007 by a team from Southern Ocean Exploration.
History
The Alert was built at Glasgow in 1877 and later sailed to Australia as a three-masted schooner with her funnel and propeller stowed in the hold.[2] After a few years on the Melbourne-Geelong route she temporarily replaced the SS Despatch on the Gippsland-Melbourne run in 1893 whilst the Despatch was being refitted.
During a gale, the ship set out from Lakes Entrance bound for Melbourne via Port Albert[3] and later encountered hurricane-force southerly winds and mountainous seas.[4] Of the 16 people on board, the only survivor was Robert Ponting, the ship's cook, who was washed ashore at Sorrento Back Beach after clinging to a portion of cabin door.
References
- ↑ Doherty, Ben (2007-06-12). "Deep thrill for Alert adventurers". The Age. http://www.theage.com.au/news/in-depth/deep-thrill-for-alert-adventurers/2007/06/12/1181414296935.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1.
- ↑ "Shipwrecks of Victoria". http://oceans1.customer.netspace.net.au/vic-wrecks.html.
- ↑ "Alert". Heritage Council of Victoria. http://vhd.heritage.vic.gov.au/vhd/heritagevic#detail_ships;17.
- ↑ "Jubilee Point, Vic: Shipwreck in Gale". EMA Disasters Database. Australian Government. http://www.ema.gov.au/ema/emadisasters.nsf/c85916e930b93d50ca256d050020cb1f/9417bd8eea5b877aca256d3300058364?OpenDocument.
External links
- Video of the discovery of the Alert
- State Library of Victoria: The Foundering of the S.S. Alert Vic. (illustration)
- Southern Ocean Exploration: SS Alert
- "A Scottish secret surfaces". The Age. 2007-06-13. http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/06/12/1181414299928.html.
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