The Western Star, 12 November 1913, page 1.
LOSS OF THE ALCONA
Hull Will Be a Menace to Shipping
The steam refrigerator Alcona owned by the Gorton-Pew Fisheries Company and reported in our last issue as having caught on fire, now lies at the bottom off Duncansby Head, Woods Island, a total wreck. The ship burned for about eighteen hours before she sunk to the bottom. The fire is thought to have started in the furnace-room, but the cause is unknown. There was a gale of south-west wind blowing at the time and some of the crew had a very narrow escape.
The Alcona was one of the largest and best floating refrigerators in the waters of North America. Her owners had her fitted at Gloucester two years ago. Last year she came to Bay of Islands where she was engaged in the fall herring fishery. She also operated at Bonne Bay, where she lay for the winter. Early in the summer she came to Woods Island. She had just been put in readiness for the fall’s operations and was about to proceed to Bonne Bay. The Alcona was 1199 tons gross and was built at Gibraltar, Mich. Her dimensions were 197 feet long; 37.3 beam and 26 feet deep; with a 500 h.p. engine, and capable of steaming 8 knots. She had a hold capacity of 1,500,000 pounds of frozen herring.
The loss of the refrigerator will somewhat hamper the Gorton-Pew people in their operations in these waters this fall.
Where the wreck now lies is right in the road for shipping entering the Humber and will prove a menace thereby.
