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Otago

Victory Beach

Dunedin City District

Victory Beach and the SS Victory shipwreck

A secluded, distant and beautiful beach with foot prints of only animals around. This is not a beach you can just drive up to and jump onto the sand. You have a 30 minute drive and another 20 minute walk to get to the sand on this guy. If you want to get to the shipwreck you better plan another half hour in walking.


History - SS Victory - via Wikipedia

The steamship SS Victory departed Port Chalmers bound for Melbourne at 4:30 pm on 3 July 1861, carrying passengers, mail and cargo. It ran aground at the southern end of the beach at about 6 pm, seven minutes after chief mate George Hand took charge of the ship. Captain James Toogood ran the engines full astern for around 90 minutes, but the ship was embedded in 6–7 feet of sand, so the passengers and mail were unloaded. Hand was found guilty of being intoxicated and in neglect of duty, and sentenced to serve three months hard labor on 20 July; the court also criticized the captain. On 24 July and the following day the ship's cargo, equipment and hull were auctioned off on the beach, recovering around £1,900 from an estimated value of £25,000.


Other adventures in close proximity


Helpful links

A missed sunrise, a boat found.

I had been exploring quite a bit of the Otago Peninsula of late and decided to hit up another spot. I wanted to knock off one of the many ship wrecks in Otago waters before they were lost for ever. The SS Victory was a great place to start. The history was exciting and it happened to run aground on a very pristine beach. It was mid-winter and freezing temperatures out, but I hit the road anyway. Driving down the winding peninsula I realized I had made a crucial error. The drive took much longer than I had planned and the most stunning sunrise I had ever seen was happening in front of me down the harbor. I made it to the parking lot and to my dismay the sun was already up. Just a few yellow tones left in the sky, and a very thick layer of frost on the ground.

The Pyramids looked glorious in the light and exact to the form. I wasted no time and skipped right past them to the beach. Lets just say, that beach was a journey away. And I should of read up on how long the beach was! 3.5 km in length! I knew the Victory was on the south side and headed in that direction. I kept walking and walking and walking. Wondering if I would ever see any sign of a ship, A quick glimpse of a black object in the waves caught my eye. It had to be it! As I got nearer and nearer, it got larger and larger. The round looking object was a massive flywheel from the old Steamer. I read some where that they managed to float this ship again but the anchor had snapped and the ship run aground again, breaking apart when it caught the sand. The fly wheel was all I could see, and the sky was a nice pastel pink.

I need to get here again - Stu