Roker, Atlantic

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 Readheads & 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