Transitional Steamer Alvo, 1891

oil, 22" x 36"

SOLD

The 29-foot passenger cargo ship Alvo was built by Aitken & Mansel in Glasgow in 1879 for the Atlas Steamship Company of Liverpool. She was a single funnel, single screw steamer with two masts, but not rigged for sail. On August 16, 1893 she left New York for Haiti and Columbia with nine passengers, including General Pedro Pilar, Commander-in-Chief of the Columbian Army, sixty-five crewmen and a full cargo under the command of Captain David Williams. She was expected in Haiti on Aug. 21, but by early September she had not shown up anywhere. The New York agent said on Sept. 2 "I do not see why there should be any cause for alarm simply because we have not heard from the vessel." But of course there was great concern as she had not been seen since leaving New York. His argument was that the vessel could have gone into a port where there was no telegraph and that she had some kind of mechanical problem.

Telegrams were sent to a number of ports, but Alvo had not been to any of them. There was however news of a hurricane which had passed over the area where she would have been sailing. Another steamer, Alvena, which had left New York Aug. 18, skirted one of these storms, her master, Captain Bishop, had been washed overboard and lost during the storm. The steamer Athos, also of the Atlas Line, returned to New York on Sept. 5 and reported the storm and that they had searched a large area with no result.

Another ship in trouble during the storm was the schooner Frank M. Howes, she was dismasted on Aug. 22 and had two men lost overboard. She was found drifting on Aug. 29 by SS Jason, who removed the four men and landed them at New York on Sept. 13. On her next voyage out Jason found a lifeboat from Alvo. It was holed and empty. They left the boat in Kingston, Jamaica where SS Alene picked it up and took it to New York. By mid October Atlas' agent admitted the ship was lost. It was also learned that she carried a load of railroad car trucks on her deck, which most likely shifted in the storm and caused the ship to founder. None of the bodies of the passengers or crew of Alvo was ever found.