Meet the site
Alert was an iron screw steamer of 243 tons built by Robert Duncan at Port Glasgow in 1877, 51.5 m (169 ft) long, which arrived in Melbourne on 30 May 1878 and spent sixteen years as a bay and coastal trader between Melbourne, Portarlington and Geelong and later along the Gippsland coast. On 28 December 1893 she left the Gippsland Lakes trade at Bairnsdale with 44 tons of cargo under Captain Albert Mathieson, bound for Melbourne. Off Cape Schanck she met a south-westerly gale; seas drove in the stokehold covers and a pantry door, water reached the boiler fires and put them out, and with no steam she fell broadside to the sea and sank stern first at about 4.30 pm. Fifteen of the sixteen aboard died. The cook, Robert Ponting, clung to a cabin door for sixteen hours and was washed ashore unconscious, the sole survivor. The wreck was lost for 114 years until Southern Ocean Exploration, the Melbourne technical diving team, located her on 27 June 2007 about 10 km south of Cape Schanck in 75 m. What they found was extraordinary: the iron hull sitting upright and largely intact, all the below-deck spaces still enclosed, a lifeboat davit bent against the hull by the seas that sank her, portholes in place and bottles and plates lying where they fell. Because it is a grave, and because artefacts began to disappear, the site was declared a historic shipwreck protected zone with a 500 m radius under the Underwater Cultural Heritage Act 2018; a Heritage Victoria permit is required to dive and anchoring is banned. Alert is not a dive that can be booked. It is a 75 m expedition dive for closed-circuit rebreather teams with permits, support boats and the patience to wait for the two or three days a year when Bass Strait allows an hour of decompression off Cape Schanck. For Victorian technical diving it is a landmark – one of the most significant intact nineteenth-century wrecks in Australian waters, and a reminder that the deep Bass Strait wrecks are protected for good reason.
Research this site before booking Stored site notes may be historical. These questions highlight gaps without turning old instructions into a current dive plan.
SS Alert is recorded as Wreck in Port Phillip Heads. The listed access is boat (day trip). Confirm the actual meeting point, route and permission to visit; a map pin does not establish any of these.
Topics flagged by the stored research
These are questions prompted by the existing notes, not a verified or complete hazard assessment.
- Current and timing
- Ask how the operator assesses the current window for the actual route. Historical tide notes are not a departure instruction.
- Planned depth
- Confirm the intended route and training requirements; the recorded maximum is not a target.
Historical access notes exist for this record, but have not been independently verified for current use. Request current directions from the operator or site manager rather than following an old entry description.
Questions, answered
Is SS Alert suitable for my certification?
The record lists Technical (decompression). That does not establish suitability for every route or day. Share your training, recent experience and equipment needs with the operator and ask about the specific proposed dive.
Can I book SS Alert through YouDive?
YouDive is an independent research directory. Contact an operator directly to confirm whether it currently runs the trip, the inclusions and the booking terms.
What you might see
Deep-water sponges, sea whips, ling, boarfish, butterfly perch, southern rock lobster
Location
In open Bass Strait about 10 km south of Cape Schanck on the Mornington Peninsula, inside a declared 500 m protected zone.
Facilities nearby
Flinders boat ramp and pier (parking, toilets); no facilities at sea
Before you make plans
Conditions, access and operator schedules can change. This is a location guide, not a dive plan. Ask a local operator about current conditions and suitability for your training and experience.
Sources & further reading
scubadoctor.com.auscubadoctor.com.audivernet.comen.wikipedia.orgRecord updated 26 Sept 2026. Source claims are being reviewed.
