A dynamic retelling of the deadly 1906 sinking of the SS Valencia off the southwest coast of Vancouver Island, one of the worst maritime disasters in Canadian history. There are few places on earth that have such a high record of marine casualties as the short yet treacherous stretch of coastline known as the Graveyard of the Pacific. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the fifty-six kilometres between Port Renfrew and Cape Beale off Vancouver Island saw dozens of shipwrecks and claimed hundreds of lives. On a blustery night in late January 1906, the steamship SS Valencia, heading from San Francisco to Seattle and Victoria, met its tragic fate on the rocks near Pachena Point. With over one hundred passengers and sixty-five crew members on board, only thirty-seven people survived the wreck. All of the women and children perished. With journalistic precision, compassion for the victims, and condemnation for those who neglected to prevent the tragedy, author Michael C. Neitzel recounts the Valencia's ill-fated final voyage, drawing heavily on first-hand accounts of the survivors and witnesses. The Final Voyage of the Valencia is a must-read for anyone interested in the maritime history of Canada's west coast.--$cProvided by publisher.
Authors
- Bibliography, etc. Note
- Includes bibliographical references and index
- Control Number Identifier
- CaOOCEL
- Date published
- 2020.
- Description conventions
- rda
- Dewey Decimal Classification Number
- 910.9164/33
- Dewey Decimal Edition Number
- 23
- Distributor
- Canadian Electronic Library (Firm),
- General Note
- Issued as part of the desLibris books collection
- Geographic Area Code
- n-cn-bc
- ISBN
- 9781772033168 1772033162 9781772033151
- LCCN
- G530.V35
- LCCN Item number
- N45 2020eb
- Modifying agency
- CaBNVSL
- Original cataloging agency
- NLC
- Physical Description | Extent
- 1 electronic text (139 pages)
- Published in
- Victoria, British Columbia
- Publisher or Distributor Number
- CaOOCEL
- Rights
- Access restricted to authorized users and institutions
- System Control Number
- (CaBNVSL)kck00241039 (OCoLC)1135984227 (CaOOCEL)459068
- System Details Note
- Mode of access: World Wide Web
- Transcribing agency
- NLC
Table of Contents
- Cover 1
- Title Page 2
- Contents 4
- Foreword 6
- Chapter 1: “My God! Where Are We?” 12
- Chapter 2: Lifeboats Become Death Boats 26
- Chapter 3: Wholesale Murder 42
- Chapter 4: Nearer My God to Thee 62
- Chapter 5: The Terrible Betrayal 78
- Chapter 6: The Abandoned Survivors 96
- Chapter 7: The Most Shameful Incident in Canadian Maritime History 104
- Chapter 8: The Myth of the Ghost Ship and Lifeboat No. 5 122
- Chapter 9: Graves, Markers, and Legacy 128
- The Unknown Dead 128
- The Graveyard of the Pacific 129
- Valencia Remembered 130
- A Final Word 131
- Acknowledgements 134
- Appendix: List of Passengers, Crew, and Survivors 135
- Bibliography 139
- Index 141
- About the Author 145
