Polaris in Southern Hemisphere

Flerfs have claimed that Polaris has been seen from the Southern Hemisphere. This originally comes from Samuel Rowbotham's Zetetic Astronomy: Earth Not a Globe from 1865:

If the Earth is a sphere and the pole star hangs over the northern axis, it would be impossible to see it for a single degree beyond the equator, or 90 degrees from the pole. The line-of-sight would become a tangent to the sphere, and consequently several thousand miles out of and divergent from the direction of the pole-star. Many cases, however, are on record of the north polar star being visible far beyond the equator, as far even as the tropic of Capricorn. In the Times newspaper of May 13, 1862, under the head of "Naval and Military Intelligence," it is stated that Captain Wilkins distinctly saw the Southern Cross and the polar star at midnight in 23°53 degrees of latitude, and longitude 35°46. This would be utterly impossible if the Earth were a globe.

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  Rowbotham quote, page 41
• 
  Rowbotham quote, page 42

However, Rowbotham's only cited source does not say the observation took place at a southern latitude:

On the 19th of April, in lat. 23°53, long. 35°46, Capt. Wilkins reports that the southern cross and polar star were both distinctly visible at midnight.

Times column "Naval and Military Intelligence" from May 13, 1862

Here is what J. Dyer had to say about it in The Spherical Form of the Earth: a Reply to Parallax (1870):

If Parallax had given the particulars as they are stated in the "Times," any one might have said it was not at the Tropic of Capricorn that Captain Wilkins saw these heavenly bodies. … The longitude must have been west. And the latitude was doubtless north, near the Tropic of Cancer, for had it been south, the ship would have been near the coast of South America, not far from Rio Janeiro, and therefore 36 degrees of longitude out of the usual track of ships from the Cape to England; that being about one degree east longitude when crossing the Tropic of Capricorn.

The Southern Cross and the North Polar Star can both be seen at midnight from the Tropic of Cancer, and it must have been from this position that Captain Wilkins saw them. From this latitude the former would appear about 24 degrees above the horizon in the north, and the latter about 9 degrees above the horizon in the south.

Respecting this matter, Parallax not only asserts that which is erroneous, and makes it appear that Captain Wilkins favours his views, but at page 42 of his book he has given a diagram to illustrate the subject.