Bertha was a cargo ship built in 1871 by Oswald Shipbuilding in Sunderland for C. M. Norwood of Hull, England. She was launched on Halloween day 1871. Until 1887 she had several owners, but was always in English hands. In that year she was sold to R. N. Sloman & Company of Hamburg and renamed Savona.

She departed New York on Jan. 4, 1890 for Hamburg carrying a general cargo of corn, salt, timothy seed, hemp, cotton and other commodities. The storm she found herself in was so violent that the ship had to be abandoned on January 13, 1890 about 1,370 miles east of New York. The crew were taken off by the SS Florida and landed in London. The trip was not smooth as Florida lost forty head of cattle overboard before arriving on
Jan. 23.