It is located 10 km (6.2 mi) east of Port Arthur, Tasmania, and makes up part of Tasman National Park.

During the early 1900s, a timber mill was started at Fortescue Bay by G. Albury and Turner Brothers.

[1] At the beginning of the 1920s, the Gathercole Brothers company began advertising for men to work at their mill.

[3] Before it was scuttled, the dredge was used in the construction of the Hobart Bridge and in Devonport under ownership of the Netherlands Harbour Works Company.

The William Pitt spent 14 years in Tasmania, owned by the Melbourne Harbor Trust.