Historical information
The Victoria Tower made landfall after a voyage of 85 days from Liverpool, and headed towards the Port Phillip Heads pilot boarding ground. It had been an uneventful voyage despite some contrary headwinds (causing the long voyage) and problems with the compasses, that could not be relied upon. The weather was hazy, with gale force winds and heavy rain squalls. Reaching the pilot ground Captain Kerr fired rockets and burned blue lights to attract attention, but met with no response. Sighting the Cape Shank lighthouse he sailed towards it, then wore the Victoria Tower onto a port tack in a westerly direction. No soundings nor observations were taken, as Captain Kerr was confident he was on a safe course and knew his position tolerably well.
Physical description
Slatted wooden cabin door with 2 locks
Inscriptions & markings
Patent disk on top lock, W2 SR on either side of coat of arms. Number 60 in the middle and 1A carpenter patentee underneath
Subjects
References
- Victoria Tower Named after one of the two towers of the British Houses of Parliament, the iron clipper Victoria Tower was an equally magnificent construction, and its wrecking was described as "..a loss to the White Star Line, and to commerce generally" (GA 18/10/1869). Like the four-masted iron barques George Roper (1883) and Holyhead (1890) wrecked on Lonsdale Reef also while approaching Port Phillip Heads, the Victoria Tower had been built in Liverpool for the Australian trade, and was wrecked on its maiden voyage.
