SS Southern Cross (1886)
Southern Cross in the Derwent River, Tasmania, 1898
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| Builder: | Colin Archer |
| Launched: | 1886 |
| Fate: | Lost at sea 1914 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage: | 520 GT |
| Length: | 146 ft (45 m) |
| Sail plan: | barque |
SS Southern Cross was a steam-powered sealing vessel that operated primarily in Norway and Newfoundland and Labrador.
She was lost at sea returning from the seal hunt on March 31, 1914, killing all 174 men aboard in the same storm that killed 78 crewmen from the SS Newfoundland, a collective tragedy that became known as the "1914 Newfoundland Sealing Disaster".
The vessel was commissioned as the whaler Pollux at Arendal, Norway in 1886. Under the explorer Carstens Borchgrevink on December 19, 1898 Pollux made its first Antarctic expedition where it made marine history by breaking through the Great Ice barrier to the unexplored Ross Sea.
Pollux was sold to Baine Johnston and renamed Southern Cross upon transferring to Newfoundland in 1901. Southern Cross participated in every seal hunt from 1901-1914.
For the Southern Cross Expeditions, Borchgrevink purchased a steam whaler, Pollux, that had been built in the yard of Colin Archer, the renowned Norwegian shipbuilder. Archer had designed and built Nansen's ship Fram, which in 1896 had returned unscathed from its long drift in the northern polar ocean during Nansen's "Farthest North" expedition, 1893–96.Pollux, which Borchgrevink immediately renamed Southern Cross, was barque-rigged, 520 tons gross, and 146 feet (45 m) overall length. Engines were designed to Borchgrevink's specification, and fitted before the ship left Norway. Although Markham cast doubts on her seaworthiness (perhaps to thwart Borchgrevink's departure), the ship fulfilled all that was required of her in Antarctic waters. Like several of the historic polar ships her post-expedition life was short; she was sold to the Newfoundland Sealing Company, and in April 1914 was lost with all hands in a storm off the Newfoundland coast.
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