The Alberta

Remains of the Alberta on the ocean floor. Photographer John Gilbert.

The Alberta was a steamship built in 1888 in England by R and E Hawthorn, Leslie and Co. She was described as a magnificently built vessel and displayed the latest in boat building innovations. Only two years after her construction she sunk off the Tweed coast while carrying a heavy load of coal from Asia to Melbourne for use on the Victorian railway.

While passing the Tweed in the dead of night on 19 October 1890, she ran aground on Sutherland Reef, a few hundred yards from the mouth of Cudgen Creek. It was a dark and cloudy night, though the sea was not particularly dangerous. The Fingal lighthouse was close by. The Alberta had narrowly missed hitting Cook Island, however she hit the reef soon after, at fast speed.

The crew reported feeling two bumps, and by the time they reached the engine room it was rapidly filling with water. Within five minutes the middle section was completely flooded. The Captain quickly fired distress rockets but the rescue vessel couldn’t get out of the dangerous Tweed River bar due to a fast incoming tide. The 37 people on board abandoned ship and sat in lifeboats next to the Alberta throughout the night, where they were picked up the next day by a tug boat sent from the Pilot Station at Tweed Heads. The Master of the ship was blamed and was suspended from work for six months.

Bell and engine plate from the Alberta

The Alberta sank to a rocky shelf, and years later landed on the bottom of the ocean floor where she still lies. The bell and engine plate were retrieved from the Alberta by Bruce Periott and Frank Kirkham, and kindly loaned to the Museum for display. Maritime wrecks, such as the Alberta and her associated artefacts, are now registered as part of the Australasian Underwater Cultural Heritage Database and managed by the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment. Legislation prohibits the removal of artefacts from shipwrecks.

The Anchor from the Alberta has also been retrieved and restored and is now installed at Point Danger as a monument to merchant mariners.

The wreck of the Alberta

Video footage courtesy of John Gilbert.