The Cache at Victoria Harbour

This [cache] was established by Captain John Ross on May 28, 1832, just before the "Victory" was abandoned. In a "tunnel", the long and troublesome excavation of which is described in Chapter 48 of his "Narrative", he deposited the following valuable scientific instruments: one 36-inch transit, one 9-inch theodolite, one 31⁄2-inch astronomical telescope, 5 feet 6 inches long, four chronometers, and also some gunpowder. Unfortunately, he never recorded the whereabouts of the tunnel! ... There are, however, two clues to the position of the cache, afforded by illustrations in the "Narrative". ... Of course, after 125 years it is more than possible that the site of the tunnel has been obliterated by landslides, but a skull has been found by an R.C.M.P. patrol from Spence Bay on the opposite side of the harbour, close to the mapped position of J. Dixon's grave [a seaman who died while the tunnel was being excavated], it may still be worth the while of any future visitors to Victoria Harbour to look on the eastern side of the harbour for John Ross's cache

Archaeology · Bay · Cache · Excavation · Harbour · Australian Indigenous Culture and History · Computer Science · Geology · History