Victory II is a small cruise ship that operates seasonally on the Great Lakes, carrying about 200 passengers and owned by Victory Cruise Lines, Miami, Fla. The ship was built at Atlantic Marine, Jacksonville, Fla., as Cape Cod Light. The ship was named after a lighthouse in the north of the Cape Cod peninsula in the state of Massachusetts.

Built as a sistership to the Cape May Light, which entered service in 2001 for American Classic Voyages, construction on Cape Cod Light was started Sept. 29, 1999. Thanks to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, which caused a slump in the cruise industry and the eventual bankruptcy of American Classic Voyages, she was not completed until 2004.

The vessel has had a variety of operators. In August 2007 the vessel was renamed Coastal Queen 2. In 2008 it was renamed Clipper Discoverer for the Clipper Group AS, of Copenhagen, Denmark. In 2011 it was renamed Sea Discoverer. At some point, the most forward of her two stacks was removed.

Victory II has a gross registered tonnage of 4,954 tons and a deadweight tonnage of 200 tons. The ship is 300 feet long overall, with a beam of 50 feet and a draft of 28 feet. The ship is powered by two four-stroke Caterpillar diesel engines that give the ship a maximum speed of 13 knots (24 kph; 15 mph). She is equipped with a bow thruster.

In 2017, she was purchased by Victory Cruise Lines of Miami, Fla. After a refit in Europe, she entered seasonal Great Lakes service in mid-2018 as Victory II, running with her sistership Victory I, the former Cape May Light.

Written by Roger LeLievre