Ship of Lost Souls

Of all the ships lost in what has come to be called the “Graveyard of the Pacific,” the story of the steamship Valencia is among the saddest. In January 1906, the Valencia set out from San Francisco, bound for Seattle with 108 passengers and some 65 crew aboard. Owing to bad weather and mistakes made by the captain, she struck a reef 11 miles off Cape Beale on the southwest coast of Vancouver Island. The ship’s hull was gashed open by the rocks. The tragedy was soon multiplied a hundredfold by a series of further mistakes and missteps. Ultimately, due in large part to the lack of lifesaving infrastructure in the rugged area where she ran aground, only thirty-seven survived.

The wreck of the Valencia was an especially tragic one for a number of reasons. To begin with, most on board perished, including every woman and child, who had been lashed to the rigging high above the deck in an attempt to save them from the crashing waves. Additionally, the wreck itself was almost certainly avoidable, due almost entirely to navigational errors made by the captain. Finally, rescue efforts—such as they were—were hampered not just by the sea and the weather, but due to mistakes made by (and some say the cowardice of) the would-be rescuers.

This book pieces together the story of the Valencia and her tragic end, weaving together not just the threads of the ill-fated voyage itself, but also relevant contextual history, including the development of radio technologies and lifesaving equipment and services that simply came too late to help the doomed voyagers.