Roker, Atlantic

HER Number:
13813

District:
Sunderland

Site Name:
Roker, Atlantic

Place:
Roker

Map Sheet:
NZ46SW

Class:
Maritime Craft

Site Type: Broad:
Transport Vessel

Site Type: Specific:
Cargo Vessel

General Period:
Early Modern

Specific Period:
C19

Form of Evidence:
Wreckage

Description:
Iron, 1,601-ton, 79.09m long, 10.49m beam, 5.89m draught, Russian steamship, registered at Wiborg. She was owned at the time of loss by Rederi Acktiebolager Ocean in Viborg and built as the Horace at John Redheads & Co. Ltd at South Shields in 1878. The single iron propeller was powered by a two-cylinder, compound-steam engine, using two boilers. She had one deck, four watertight bulkheads and a centrally positioned superstructure that consisted of a 29m quarter-deck, 18.2m bridge-deck and 9.1m forecastle On 17 September 1902, the Atlantic was on a voyage from Sunderland to Crondstadt with a cargo of coal and twenty-one crew, under the command of Captain P.G. Lindroos, when she foundered and was lost, following a collision with the Newcastle-register steamship Twizell two miles north-east of Sunderland. Very few local people have even heard of the Atlantic, yet in her time she was quite a substantial vessel. She lies partially buried, on a seabed of dirty sand and gravel, in a general depth of 26m, just to the North of the Sunderland spoil-ground. The wreck has now totally collapsed into a pile of debris, with the highest point being about 3m around her two boilers and engine, which are covered in silt, visibly exposed and surrounded by a pile of decayed, twisted plates and broken machinery. Built: 1887 Builder: J Readhead & Co. Ltd. Where Built: South Shields Propulsion: Screw driven, 2 cylinder compound engine HP: 164 Boilers: 2 Construction: 1 deck; 4 bulkheads; q'deck 95ft; b'deck 60ft; f'castle 30ft Master: P G Lindroos Crew: 21 Owner: Rederi Acktiebolager Ocean, Viborg

Easting:
4480

Northing:
6050

Grid Reference:
NZ44806050

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
Young, R. (2000) Comprehensive guide to Shipwrecks of the North East Coast (The): Volume One (1740 – 1917), Tempus, Gloucestershire. p. 144, National Monuments Record, Ian T. Spokes Wreck Database; National Monument Record (1313508); United Kingdom shipwreck index [pre publication typescript]; Richard and Bridget Larn 1997 Shipwreck index of the British Isles, volume 3. The east coast of England : Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Lincolnshire, Yorkshire, CounUnited Kingdom shipwreck indexty Durham, Northumberland, Section 6, County Durham