I recently came across a photo of the MV Victoria on The Surf Chasers’ Facebook page. It came with the comments, “1934 Tunkalilla beach. MV “Victoria”. They never managed to get it of the beach The wreck is still under the water there somewhere.”
David Hooper added the comments, “The tents on the beach and
the flying fox were all there for the salvage.” Tim Parsons shared an image
taken from seaward, commenting, “MV Victoria was dismantled piece by
piece and taken ashore by a salvage company. No mean feat considering the
vessel weighed 2500 tons. The image taken from seaward gives a better
indication of where on the beach she was stranded. I have viewed satellite
images that suggest only parts of the very bottom of the ship may remain. I
surveyed the entire beach with side scan from just outside the impact zone on a
very calm day. I was getting a pretty good image of the bottom right to the
shore pound but could not distinguish any wreckage . The loss of the MV Victoria
was attributed to poor visibility caused by a severe dust storm.”
Philip Reiffel commented, “I went to that site in the 80s,
the boiler was exposed. That vessel broke up quite quickly!”
According to “South Australian Shipwrecks – A Data Base
(1802-1989)” by Peter Christopher, the 4500-ton MV Victoria was wrecked
off Tunkalilla Beach on 7th October 1934. The 1928-built steel ship
measured 384 feet in length, 54 feet in width and a depth of 24 feet. Its cargo
was 6300 tons of superphosphate.
According to Weekend Notes, “5
October 1934, the Danish ship M.V. Victoria ran aground near Tunkalilla
Beach. Carrying thirty crew and two passengers, the vessel was transporting
5700 tonnes of phosphate from the Pacific island of Makatea to Wallaroo.
According to the records, the six-year-old ship hit the sand and rocks about 50
metres from the shore, after failing to see the lights during a storm, at
around 10:30pm. Tugboats from Port Adelaide attempted to move the 117-metre
long ship from the sand, but were unable to move the 4,500 tons of steel before
the boat sprang a leak. Captain Jacobsen called abandon ship soon after, on the
Sunday afternoon.”
Further, following a photo of the shipwreck, “Captain J. G.
Arnold was subsequently awarded the contract for the salvage work on the
Victoria. A team of salvage workers, living in tents on the beach, worked day
and night in six-hour shifts to remove the debris. A flying fox and winches
were used to retrieve equipment from the vessel. The salvage operation was
difficult, the engine room was filled with water to a depth of 5 metres, which
required substantial pumping to enable the salvage work to continue. Due to the
steep gradient of the surrounding land, tractors were used to remove the
salvaged goods, which were then sent to Port Adelaide in heavy motor trucks. An
emergency steering wheel and siren were sent to the Port Adelaide Maritime
museum from the wreck, which lays parallel to the shore, just past the break.”
There are two photos of the wreck on the Weekend Notes web
page: -
That second photo is the same one that featured on The
Surf Chasers’ Facebook page.
The Victoria’s wrecking date is missing in Jack
Loney’s “ Wrecks on the South Australian Coast”. The 1934-year heading is also
missing. Loney says that the ship was Danish and was making its way back from
Makatea to Wallaroo when it ran off course in Backstairs Passage (during a
storm?). It struck rocks near Porpoise Head, some 6 miles east of Cape Jervis.
There are two photos of the wreck in Loney’s book, one taken
when the wreck occurred in 1934, and the other one taken in 15 years later in
1949.
Loney says that the Victoria “lay about 50m off shore
with about 5m of water in her forepeak and was leaking badly. Three tugs
despatched from Port Adelaide failed to refloat her so a line was fastened
ashore and the vessel abandoned. Salvage crews often worked in rough conditions
to remove fittings from the vessel which eventually broke her back and went to
pieces before work on her was completed.”
The caption for the 1934 photo of the wreck reads, “After
tugs failed to free M.V. Victoria, ashore near Cape Jervis in 1934,
salvage crews were working to remove fittings when she broke in two and quickly
went to pieces”.
The Yankalilla
and District Historical Society Inc. webpage suggests that the Victoria was wrecked on 5th October rather
than the 7th. It also states that the vessel was built in
Copenhagen. The wreck site is given as “about two miles east of Tunkalilla
Station”. Also stated is that “Captain Jacobsen was the ship’s master and there
were thirty crew and two passengers.”
Further, “Captain JG Arnold, a Swedish captain and owner of
the Dry Dock at Mannum brought in a salvage team of toolmakers, sheet metal
workers, drivers and an electrician. The salvage was not an easy job in high
seas and because of the weight of crankshafts and engines. The ship quickly
broke up in high seas and today it is on a rare occasion that what remains is
visible from the beach.”
According to the Society’s
Facebook post , “The Yankalilla District Historical Museum holds items and
the Historical Society has an album of photographs donated by Dorothy Lord.”
Further, “Captain JG Arnold, a Swedish captain and owner of
the Dry Dock at Mannum won the tender for salvage. All but four of the crew
abandoned the ‘Victoria’ to seek other passages and Captain Arnold brought in
his salvage team of toolmakers, sheet metal workers, drivers and an
electrician. Tents were erected and shacks built in a shanty town with two
streets - Victoria Avenue and Copenhagen Street. At the same time, there were
two Customs officers there to make sure the salvage reached bond stores in Port
Adelaide and many sightseers from Adelaide, including members of car clubs.
“There are photos of the salvage taking place - not an easy
job in high seas and because of the weight of crankshafts and engines. One
crankshaft was salvaged but the second lies at the bottom of the sea. Sue West
showed photos taken 20 years ago of two large pieces of metal on the beach -
now in the care of owners of Tunkalilla Station. The ship quickly broke up in
high seas and today it is on a rare occasion that what remains is visible from
the beach.”
The Facebook post includes a photo (from the Collection of
the State Library of SA) of “MV Victoria in 1935 showing where the
vessel struck land.”
According to a webpage of
aquasport.tv, The Aqua Sports Online TV, “Not able to be re-floated, the
wreck was salvaged over more than four months. The remains of the Victoria lie
in shallow water in a high energy area. Diving this site ideally needs a number
of right conditions including low Northerly winds, low swells rolling in from
the South and minimal tide movement to assist in limiting sand movement which
near kills visibility. On the right conditions, this is an interesting sight to
see. Running near parallel to the coast there is good swimming to be had as the
wreck is spread out over a couple of hundred metres taking into account that it
was a large vessel over 100 metres long.
“Please take caution when diving this wreck. Note: It can
also be snorkeled (sic) in the right conditions though there is a reported
under-toe (sic) for this beach – so again, a dodge tide is the preferred time.”
The page includes some underwater video footage of the
wrecksite (taken by Steve Saville, ScubaCrave (OzDiverDown)?).
