The Valencia was a 1600-ton steamship that ran aground off Vancouver Island, British Columbia on January 22, 1906, in one of the more well-known and tragic maritime disasters of the 20th century.
The Valencia was travelling from San Francisco to Seattle when it encountered a heavy fog bank off Cape Mendocino. The ship crept through the fog for hours before being caught in strong winds and currents and swept against sharp rocks at the base of a steep cliff. The captain ordered the ship's lifeboats lowered to the rail for boarding; then, contrary to his orders, four were immediately lowered into the raging seas. One was immediately smashed to flinders against the Valencia's side; the other three disappeared into the darkness. Shortly thereafter, two of the remaining boats were launched, leaving almost a hundred people stranded on board the stricken liner.
The Cape Beale lighthouse keeper, Thomas Paterson, saw the flares launched by the Valencia's crew and received the first few survivors to struggle ashore. He telegraphed word of the disaster to Victoria, and three ships responded - the Queen, City of Topeka, and the salvage tug Salvor. However, when the rescue ships arrived at the site of the disaster, it was immediately clear to them that they would be powerless to aid the stricken liner. The Valencia was aground in a very dangerous area, and the powerful swells would ensure that any vessel attempting a rescue would share her fate. Even the Salvor, with its powerful engines, was unable to approach any closer than a half mile, despite valiant efforts by her captain.
The rescue fleet watched as women and children climbed into the Valencia's rigging to escape the disintegrating hull - many dressed in nightdresses, without gloves or shoes - only to slowly freeze or fall to their deaths in the boiling surf. When morning came, the Valencia's boatswain, Tim McCarthy, attempted to take the remaining lifeboat - No 5. - to shore with a lifeline. After a great effort, and losing all but two of their oars to the surf and rocks, McCarthy and his men reached the cliffs, and hiked to Cape Beale for help. When the rescue party returned, only 60 people remained alive in the Valencia's rigging. They began to cheer as the rescue party began to haul in the lifeline, only to see it snap and disappear into the waves. The steamship had long since run out of rockets, which might have been able to carry another line to shore; there was nothing left for the rescuers to do but wait for the inevitable. One by one the survivors were swept from the wreck, until all were gone - 40 hours after the Valencia struck ground. All in all, 117 people died in the shipwreck.
In 1933, the No. 5 lifeboat was found drifting in Barkley Sound, its paint still in good condition.
Source: T.W. Paterson's British Columbia Shipwrecks.