THE VICTORIAN ERA OF BRITAIN
The long and stable rule of Queen Victoria (1837-1901) set the tone for foreign and domestic politics and even stylistic mores. A series of Factory and Reform Acts throughout the century limited child labor, capped the average workday, and made sweeping changes in voting rights. By 1906, trade unions found a political voice in the Labour Party. Yet pressures to alter the position of other marginalized groups proved ineffectual, as the rich and bohemian embraced fin-de-siecle decadence; women, for instance, would have to wait for the vote until after the trauma of World War I.
THE VICTORIAN ERA OF BRITAIN Photo Gallery
The Tioga was taken in tow but began listing badly and was in danger of sinking, so her crew were taken on board an escort vessel. On 3 November, after she had continued to drift for many hours, Royal Navy warships escorting the convoy sank her with gunfire. The wreck is orientated in a N to S direction and lies on a seabed of hard sand and gravel in a general depth of 63 m (LAT). It is very substantial, standing upright and lying at a slight angle, but broken off into three sections, from just past the bows and to the fore of the bridge structure at the stern end, with the highest point of 8 m being at the stern. The wreck is rather broken up, but some of the bridge superstructure, decking, handrails, doors and deck machinery are still in reasonable condition and there are a number of places where access to the inside of the wreck would be possible. The ship’s bell, which identified the wreck, has been recovered. The Athelduke had sailed from Port Everglades, Florida with 12,600 tons of molasses for Salt End at Kingston-upon-Hull. The motor tanker first sailed from Port Everglades to Boston between 18 and 23 March 1945 and then joined the 21-ship convoy BX.152 to Halifax, Nova Scotia.
