SS Southern Cross
Sealing Steamer · Newfoundland · Lost 1914 · Newfoundland
A Newfoundland sealing steamer that vanished with all 174 men aboard in a March 1914 blizzard, part of the combined disaster that also claimed the crew of SS Newfoundland.
Become Captain of Record
The Vessel and Her Loss
Southern Cross had originally served as the Antarctic exploration ship for the Southern Cross Expedition before being converted to Newfoundland's seal hunt in 1901. On March 31, 1914, while returning to St. John's with what was believed to be a full cargo of seal pelts, she vanished in a severe blizzard off the southwest coast of Newfoundland. All 174 men aboard were lost; without wireless or survivors, the exact circumstances of her sinking were never determined. Her loss, alongside the deaths of 78 men from SS Newfoundland stranded on the ice in the same storm, became known as the 1914 Newfoundland Sealing Disaster.
Vessel
- 1886
- Ole Martin Olsen (design by Colin Archer)
- Arendal, Norway
- Wood
- 146 ft
- Not established
- 520
- Steam, barque-rigged auxiliary sail
- Newfoundland Sealing Company (Murray & Crawford, Glasgow)
Loss
- March 31, 1914
- Storm
- Off the southwest coast of Newfoundland, near Cape Ray
- North Atlantic Ocean
- Sealing grounds off Newfoundland → St. John's, Newfoundland
- Seal pelts and oil (reported to be a full cargo)
- 174
- 174
- Not established
The Wreck Today
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
Position
- Not established
- Position not established
- Cape Ray, Newfoundland
No wreckage or wireless communication survived the loss; her sinking position was never established.
Evidence
Overall confidence: Documented (75/100)
No wreckage was ever found and the vessel's final position and precise cause of loss are not established in the sources reviewed.
Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage Web Site
Narrative of the 1914 Sealing Disaster and Southern Cross's loss.
Casualty figures and background of the combined disaster.
