Victory Wreck
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 (45°50′33″S 170°43′56″E / 45.8425°S 170.7321°E / -45.8425; 170.7321) 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 labour on 20 July; the court also criticised 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.
Read more about this topic: Victory Beach
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In their unhallowed principles, the bad
Have fairly earned a victory o’er the weak,
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“the thing I came for:
the wreck and not the story of the wreck
the thing itself and not the myth
the drowned face always staring
toward the sun”
—Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)