Alpha (sternwheeler)
 The sternwheeler Alpha in 1878
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
| Name | Alpha |
| Launched | July 5, 1873 |
| Fate | Ran aground April 1885 |
| General characteristics | |
| Draft | 1 ft (0.30 m) |
Alpha was a wooden steamship that operated on the rivers of Manitoba, Canada.[1] She was launched on July 5, 1873.[1][2] Her builder and first owner was J.W. "flatboat" McLane.[3] His ownership was complicated by his British citizenship, since the Alpha would routinely have to cross the US-Canadian boundary while traveling from Grand Forks, Minnesota to Fort Garry, Manitoba. So, she was sold to the Kittison Line.
She had a reputation as being one of the fastest vessels in Manitoba, and one capable of proceeding during periods of shallow water, as her draft was just one foot (0.30 m).[1]
Her accommodation was very cramped.[4]
Running aground did not always end the career of prairie steamboats, but it did end the career of Alpha, when she ran aground on the Assiniboine River in April 1885.[1][2]
Her grounding was due to human error.[3] Her captain took a risk, during flood time. He risked taking a short-cut, by deviating from the river's channel and proceeding across an isthmus that he knew was dry land, during low water.
The wreck was left high and dry, when the flood passed.[3] Locals cannibalized some of the ship's fitting and sound lumber. Silt from subsequent floods buried the wreck site, so the exact site was lost.
The wreck was re-exposed, in 1958, when that year's flood cut a new channel through the wreck-site.[3] Her rudder is now housed in a maritime museum in Selkirk, Manitoba.[1][2]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d e "The S.S. Alpha and the River Routes". Virtual Manitoba. Retrieved 2017-01-15.
- ^ a b c "Historic Sites of Manitoba: SS Alpha Shipwreck (RM of Victoria)". Government of Manitoba. 2016-12-31. Retrieved 2017-01-15.
- ^ a b c d Ted Barris (26 September 2015). Fire Canoe: Prairie Steamboat Days Revisited. Dundurn Press 2015. ISBN 9781459732100. Retrieved 2020-08-22.
- ^
Martha McCarthy (1987). "Steamboats on the Rivers and Lakes of Manitoba 1859-96" (PDF). Manitoba Archives. p. 36. Retrieved 2020-11-30.
Aboard the Alpha, 15 men slept in a little cabin only 3.6m (12 ft.) square.
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