Alpha was a wooden steamship that operated on the rivers of Manitoba, Canada.

[3] His ownership was complicated by his British citizenship, since the Alpha would routinely have to cross the US-Canadian boundary while traveling from Grand Forks, Minnesota to Fort Garry, Manitoba.

She had a reputation as being one of the fastest vessels in Manitoba, and one capable of proceeding during periods of shallow water, as her draft was just one foot (0.30 m).

He risked taking a short-cut, by deviating from the river's channel and proceeding across an isthmus that he knew was dry land, during low water.

The wreck was re-exposed, in 1958, when that year's flood cut a new channel through the wreck-site.