SS Alert

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title: "SS Alert" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["victorian-era-merchant-ships-of-australia", "shipwrecks-of-victoria-(state)", "1890s-in-victoria-(state)", "maritime-incidents-in-1893", "1893-in-australia", "ships-built-on-the-river-clyde", "1877-ships", "iron-and-steel-steamships-of-australia", "australian-shipwrecks-with-protected-zone", "december-1893"] description: "Shipwreck in Victoria, Australia" topic_path: "geography/australia" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Alert" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Shipwreck in Victoria, Australia ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox ship"]

Field	Value
section1	{{Infobox ship/image
image	SS Alert 1882.jpg
image_caption	SS Alert
section2	{{Infobox ship/career
country	Australia
name	Alert
owner	Huddart Parker
registry	Melbourne, Australia
builder	Robert Duncan & Co., Port Glasgow
launched	1877
identification	Official number: 76169
fate	Sunk, 28 December 1893
section3	{{Infobox ship/characteristics
header_caption
type	Steamship
tonnage	243 tons
length	169 ft
beam	19 ft
depth	9 ft
propulsion	Rankin & Blackmore compound steam engine, 90 nhp, 1 screw
::

|section1={{Infobox ship/image |image=SS Alert 1882.jpg |image_caption=SS Alert

|section2={{Infobox ship/career | hide_header= | country= Australia | flag= | name=Alert | namesake= | owner=Huddart Parker | operator= | registry=Melbourne, Australia | route= | ordered= | awarded= | builder=Robert Duncan & Co., Port Glasgow | original_cost= | yard_number= | way_number= | laid_down= | launched=1877 | sponsor= | christened= | completed= | acquired= | maiden_voyage= | in_service= | out_of_service= | renamed= | reclassified= | refit= | struck= | reinstated= | homeport= | identification=Official number: 76169 | motto= | nickname= | fate=Sunk, 28 December 1893 | notes= | badge=

|section3={{Infobox ship/characteristics | hide_header= | header_caption= | class= | type=Steamship | tonnage=243 tons | displacement= | length= 169 ft | beam= 19 ft | height= | draught= | depth= 9 ft | hold_depth= | decks= | deck_clearance= | power= | propulsion=Rankin & Blackmore compound steam engine, 90 nhp, 1 screw | sail_plan= | speed= | range= | endurance= | boats= | capacity= | crew= | notes= '*SS *Alert''''' was a steamship that sank off Cape Schanck, Victoria, Australia on 28 December 1893. The ship was built for the gentle waters of Scottish lochs and was almost 51 m long and weighed 247 tonnes.

After Alert sank the ship laid for 113 years on the ocean floor until being rediscovered in June 2007 by a team from Southern Ocean Exploration.

History

Alert was built at Port Glasgow in 1877 and later sailed to Australia as a three-masted schooner with her funnel and propeller stowed in the hold. After a few years on the Melbourne–Geelong route she temporarily replaced the on the Gippsland–Melbourne run in 1893 whilst Despatch was being refitted.

During a gale, the ship set out from Lakes Entrance bound for Melbourne via Port Albert. Of the 16 people on board, the only survivor was Robert Ponting, the ship's cook, who was washed ashore at Sorrento "back" (ocean) beach after clinging to a portion of cabin door. He was found and revived by locals using brandy and the body heat of a St. Bernard dog. Two bodies were also washed ashore at Sorrento back beach.

An inquiry was held and attached no blame to the lighthouse keeper or the captain but, after years of litigation, compensation was awarded to Ponting and the wife of one of the deceased.

References

References

1. {{Cite VHD shipwreck. 17. Alert
2. (13 January 1894). "THE FOUNDERING OF THE S.S. ALERT.". [[Bairnsdale Advertiser and Tambo and Omeo Chronicle]].
3. Doherty, Ben. (2007-06-12). "Deep thrill for Alert adventurers". The Age.
4. "Shipwrecks of Victoria".
5. "Jubilee Point, Vic: Shipwreck in Gale". [[Australian Government]].
6. (4 January 1894). "Foundering of the s.s. Alert.". [[Wellington Times and Agricultural and Mining Gazette]].
7. (29 December 1893). "WRECK AT THE HEADS.". [[Fitzroy City Press]].
8. (20 February 1894). "THE FOUNDERING OF THE S.S. ALERT.". [[The Mercury (Hobart).
9. (24 May 1897). "THE S.S. ALERT.". [[The Argus (Melbourne).

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