SS Alert was a steamship that sank off Cape Schanck, Victoria, Australia on 28 December 1893.[1][3][4] The ship was built for the gentle waters of Scottishlochs and was almost 51 m (167 ft) 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.[2] After a few years on the Melbourne–Geelong route she temporarily replaced the SS Despatch 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.[1] She encountered hurricane-force southerly winds and mountainous seas and sank about four miles[3] off Cape Schanck.[3][5] 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.[6] Two bodies were also washed ashore at Sorrento back beach.[7]
An inquiry was held and attached no blame to the lighthouse keeper or the captain[8] but, after years of litigation, compensation was awarded to Ponting and the wife of one of the deceased.[9]
