The Screw Steamer SS ‘Alert’ was a single masted, iron hulled, propeller driven steamer, built by Robert Duncan & Co, in Port Glasgow, Scotland, in 1877. On the 28th December 1893 – whilst on her way to Melbourne, she foundered during a massive gale as she rounded Cape Schank. All the passengers and crew of the SS ‘Alert’ were lost, bar one. Her only survivor, was the cook, Robert Ponting, who was found washed ashore on Sorrento’s ‘Back Beach‘ – a further seven bodies were found washed up onto beaches close by . . .
One hundred and fourteen years after the SS ‘Alert’ lost her battle with the sea, the wreck was discovered in 2007, lying approximately 75 m deep – some 10 km south of Cape Schanck.
It is believed that the loss of the SS ‘Alert’ was the final catalyst which lead to the building of the ‘Life Saving Track‘ along the Bass Strait coastline from Sorrento to ‘Number Sixteen Beach‘ in Rye. The track was intended to provide rescue access points along the rugged coastline thereby being able to transport rescuers and their equipment to foundering ships so that they could quickly be there to rescue and administer aid to survivors, as well as provide lookout points to spot ships in trouble . . .
Particulars of the SS ‘Alert’ at the time of the disaster:
Owner: Huddart Parker Ltd
Captain: Captain Mathieson (Captain of the SS ‘Despatch’ which was being refitted at this time – the SS ‘Alert’ maintaining the run to Gippsland)
Voyage:
” . . . She left Melbourne for Port Albert, Metung, Paynesville, Bairnesdale, Mossiface, and Bruthen on Saturday last, calling at Queenscliffe and Portsea . . . “
Source: Excerpt – ‘South Australian Register’ (Adelaide, SA) – Article “Wreck on the Victorian Coast – S.S. Alert Foundered – Fifteen Lives Lost – Thrilling Story by the Only Survivor” – published 30th December 1893
” . . . The Alert, an iron screw steamer of 243 tons, was engaged for a number of years in the Melbourne-Geelong service, in conjunction with the Excelsior. At the time of the disaster, however, the regular trader on the Gippsland Lakes-Melbourne run (the Despatch) was in dock for overhaul, and the Alert was commissioned to replace her. It has been stated, in this respect, that the Alert should have been used only for Bay excursion traffic, and that this circumstance contributed to the loss of the vessel . . . “
Source: Exerpt – ‘Age’ (Melbourne, Vic) – Article “Wreck of the Alert – The 48th Anniversary” – published 27th December 1941
Crew: 13
Mulready (Boatswain) appears to be missing from the list published in the ‘South Australian Register’ on the 30th December 1893
Passengers: 3
James Newton (Saloon Passenger – Clerk of the Treasury Department), W Stewart (Steerage Passenger), Page (Steerage Passenger)
44 Tons of Cargo: 25 tons Wattle Bark, 40 bales Wool, 20 bags Maize, 55 Sheepskins, 9 empty Hogheads, 20 packages of furniture, 14 empty casks & boxes of sundries
Extracts of the following article describes the loss of the SS ‘Alert’ as was reported at the time:
” . . . A terrible marine catastrophe was brought to light early this morning, when a party of residents of Sorrento found a half-drowned man on the back beach, and after resuscitating him with some difficulty ascertained that he was the sole survivor of the crew of Messrs. Huddart, Parker, & Company’s steamer Alert, which was on her voyage from Port Albert to Melbourne.
Mr. James Douglas Ramsay with his wife and sister had just reached the back beach when they were met by two ladies, who told them that a shipwrecked sailor was lying unconscious on the beach. Mr. .Ramsay ran down to the spot and found a man clothed in pants and a shirt, with a lifebelt round his waist. Mr. Ramsay resorted to the usual methods for restoring the apparently drowned, and after a quarter of an hour’s work had the satisfaction of seeing the man draw a deep breath and open his eyes. Mr. Stanton, a visitor at Sorrento, came up at this stage with New Newfoundland dog, a magnificent animal, which obeyed his master’s orders most intelligently, and nestling against the chilled body of the man brought vital warmth back again and set the blood circulating. Brandy having been administered the man recovered sufficiently to say that his name was Robert Ponting, and that he was cook of the Alert, which had foundered on the previous evening in the heavy southerly gale which was blowing along the coast.
When Ponting had been taken into Sorrento and put to bed he recovered enough to give a detailed account of the catastrophe. He said that when the Alert left Port Albert she had a crew of thirteen men all told, besides two passengers in the saloon and one in the steerage. One of the saloon passengers was Mr. J. Newton, but he did not know the name of the other, nor the name of the steerage passenger. The weather was terribly bad all the voyage, and when the steamer rounded Cape Schanck a southerly gale was blowing with hurricane force, raising a terrific sea. The Alert shipped a deal of heavy water, but they had good hopes of weathering the storm, until at about a quarter-past 4 an enormous green sea broke on board as the steamer rolled and filled the decks flush with the rails, carried off everything movable, and poured down the hatches and skylights into the waist of the vessel. The fires in the engine-room were put out at once, and the great volume of steam that poured from below apprised all on board of their danger. The steamer lay helpless in the trough of the sea, and Captain Mathieson at once sang out, ‘All hands on deck with the lifebelts.’ The order was obeyed, but all hands were scarcely mustered before one sea after another broke over the steamer, burying her to the gunwale. Then she suddenly went from under their feet, and all were left struggling in the waves. Ponting managed to get hold of a hatch, but it kept turning over and pulling him under the water. At last he lost it, and started swimming. He saw the steward alongside him for several minutes, and saw him drown without being able to assist him. He also passed Captain Mathieson after he bad been about an hour in the water. The captain was swimming strongly, but did not answer when hailed. Then Ponting got hold of a cabin door, and clung to it all through the night. Whenever he looked up he could see the Schanck light, and so was able to steer for shore. He felt himself growing colder and colder, and at last, when day was breaking, he touched a sandy bottom, staggered a few steps up the beach, and fell unconscious, remembering nothing more till he saw his rescuers round him.
There is some doubt about the number of passengers. The official list says that there was one in the saloon, but a friend of Captain Mathieson’s, whose name is unknown, is supposed to have been also on board. This is probably the second one mentioned by Ponting.
This portion of the coast has already been the scene of some notable shipwrecks, among the vessels lost near the same spot being the Cheviot, six years ago, and the Craigburn, three years ago . . . “
The Postmaster-General received the following message from Sorrento on Friday morning:
— ‘The steamer Alert is wrecked off Jubilee Point. Two bodies have been washed ashore here. It is reported that all hands have been drowned but one . . . “
Source: Excerpts – ‘South Australian Register’ (Adelaide, SA) – Article “Wreck on the Victorian Coast – S.S. Alert Foundered – Fifteen Lives Lost – Thrilling Story by the Only Survivor” – published 30th December 1893
The captain, crew and owners were exonerated from any wrong doing:
The following collage in memory of the tragic event captures the elegance of the elliptical stern steamer, the captain, the sole survivor, and, the location where Robert Ponting was found washed ashore. The rotunda atop the hill is now replaced by ‘Coppin’s Lookout‘ on Sorrento’s stunning ‘Back Beach’ . . .
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