When the Launceston Examiner claimed of the SS City of Launceston that “the fittings are of a most substantial character and at the same time are ornamental..”(Launceston Examiner, October 22nd 1863) it was no exaggeration. The steamship was the finest in the country, and as the flagship of the Launceston and Melbourne Steam Navigation Company, no expense was spared in its fit-out.
This elaborate toilet, which is a type known as a ‘Hopper Closet’, is an example of the luxuries provided for the ship’s passengers.
The evening of 19th November 1865 was bright and cloudless. The SS City of Launceston was 2 hours out of port on its way to Launceston when it struck the SS Penola in Port Phillip Bay. No lives were lost, but the ship and all the passenger’s belongings sank to the bottom of the bay.
In 1996, our team of archaeologists with help from the Maritime Archaeological Association of Victoria (MAAV) began excavations of the site. Amongst the artefacts recovered was this toilet.
The toilet is ceramic and lead, with a Romantic patterned transfer printed bowl. When the ship was fitted out in the Glasgow shipyards, the toilet would have had wooden surrounds. The location of the toilet when it was discovered by archaeologists suggested it was probably for the use of the first class passengers.
The significance of this object, aside from its aesthetic appeal, lies in the insight it gives us into the importance of passenger comfort on the SS City of Launceston. Melbourne homes were not connected to a sewerage system until the 1890s or later and even London’s sewerage system was not finished until 1865, the year the ship sank. Yet the passengers on board this ship had the privilege of flushing toilets.
The combination of lead and ceramic in the toilet meant that the conservation of this object was very complex. It took more than six years to complete. While we hold a large collection of objects from the SS City of Launceston, it is the toilet that most fascinates visitors.
The SS City of Launceston is on the Victorian Heritage Register.