having completed the initial work, it was decided in 1841 to proceed with the tower. the government was asked for assistance, and agreed to grant convict labour, stone and timber, on the basis that the subscribers were to supply cartage, lime, lead and other materials. work began on building the tower, but it was soon found that the tower basement, which had been put in at the time of the original building, was badly built and insufficient to bear the weight of the tower. it was found necessary to remove this basement, as well as the vestibule and the two vestries on either side of it. for various reasons, one of which was the inability to supply suitably skilled convict labour, the work was frequently interrupted and left for long periods. by 1847 the tower was finally completed, but the porch and the rooms at the basement of the tower were left unfinished. for five years ?the church was more or less exposed to the weather and great inconveniences were occasioned to the congregation? erected to serve as a mark for shipping, the tower of st george's has been a landmark for sailors ever since 1847. back in the nineteenth century when st george's was built, battery point was home to master mariners, shipwrights, seamen, fishermen, shipping agents and many others who worked in the shipbuilders' yards and on the wharves. these connections earned st george's the name of "the mariners' church".
