Visible at low tide amongst the breakers lying at the southern end of Victory Beach in Makahoe / Wickliffe Bay on Muaūpoko / Otago Peninsula lies the encrusted remains of the S.S. Victory. Victory wrecked shortly after leaving Port Chalmers enroute to Melbourne on 3 July 1861, the result of an intoxicated sailor being left in charge. Victory has historic and archaeological significance.

Victory Beach, named for the wreck, runs the length of Wickliffe Bay on the southeast coast of Otago Peninsula. Set back from the beach, Ōkia is a large flat area first populated by the Waitaha people, followed by Kāti Māmoe who settled at nearby Papanui Inlet, and later Kāi Tahu. The area is situated in what became the Taiaroa / Mount Charles Native Reserve, land retained after the Otago Purchase of 1844. Ownership of Block B was further eroded by compulsory acquisition for defence and public works but continued to acknowledge Taiaroa’s Private Road which ran the length of Victory Beach. A statutory acknowledgement exists for the Te Tai o Arai Te Uru (Otago Coastal Marine Area).

The Victory was built in Dumbarton, Scotland in 1849 by the company Denny Bros. Victory was a three masted frigate-built iron single screw steamer, she spent her early years with the North-West of Ireland Steam Packet Company conveying passengers and cargo. Victory was 146.4 ft (44.6 m) long, beam 25.7 ft. (7.8 m), depth 20.1 ft (6.1 m) with ‘[t]hree masts with yards crossed on the foremast. Figurehead and quarter galleries … Three windsails were carried for ventilating the holds. The galley had a steam range. The 40 cabin passengers were accommodated in the poop on bunks and on sofas … The vessel’s outfit included a complete set of Marryatt’s signal flags, a 4-pounder carronade and two binnacles with four compasses.’ The hull cost £7,800.9s.6d ($1,968,666). Victory was expected to become a model for future steamers.

In 1858 the Inter-Colonial Royal Mail Company was formed with four steam vessels to provide an ‘exclusive Monthly Mail Service between Sydney and the principal ports of the Colony of New Zealand…’. Victory had a major refit in 1860 in preparation to join the fleet, lengthened to 215 ft (65.5 m) and refitted with two steeple engines generating 350 HP. She had capacity for 1000 tons and could accommodate 46 saloon passengers and cargo in addition to ‘the Mails’. Victory was further fitted out with three saloons (two for women) and a patented condensing apparatus to provide fresh water. Victory’s interior was luxuriously decorated by Messers Wright and Dreyer with ‘rich crimson velvet’ seating and oil paintings of battle scenes – she was a ‘magnificent specimen of naval architecture’.

Victory sailed from Melbourne for Port Chalmers under the new service on 16 January 1861 arriving on 21 January. Commanded by Captain James Toogood, Victory ‘was the finest and fastest boat belonging to the company’. At 3.30pm on 3 July Victory left Port Chalmers for Melbourne with the homeward English mail. Captain Toogood set course and was relieved to take his dinner. Within 10 minutes the Victory had steamed straight onto the beach at the southern end of Wickliffe Bay and attempts to pull off were unsuccessful. To protect the boat, passengers and cargo, Toogood ran her further up on to the beach. The chief mate, George Hand who had relieved the third mate, Thomas Sampson so he could take his dinner, was drunk. Hand was sentenced to 3 months imprisonment with hard labour. Valued at £25 000 ($3,160,736) Victory and its cargo was sold to a syndicate for £570 ($72,064), and the rest of the cargo for £1900 ($24,021). The Steam Ship Victory Company was formed by R.B Martin and Co. to fund the floating of the Victory which, though stuck, remained undamaged.

While no plan was made to replace the Victory on the Royal Mail service, an ambitious plan to float the Victory in July 1862 was explored. Mr. Scott, an experienced engineer, arrived from Sydney with 12 hydraulic cylinders, ‘each capable of lifting 150 tons’. In September the Victory had successfully been ‘slewed round with her head to the sea’. Despite the dedicated efforts of the team, the mission to float the Victory was unsuccessful as, ‘A few days later the steamer was afloat, and steam was being got up when the chain cable snapped and she drifted ashore...’ Victory was then declared a total wreck and sold for £200 ($25,156) after £8000 ($1,011,435) was spent attempting to float her. The remains were auctioned over the following months. The only evidence remaining of the Victory today is the flywheel which is visible at very low tide, and the beach which bears its name.