A week after the wreck of the Valencia, The Daily Colonist of Victoria ran a cover story about the aftermath of the disaster and the horrific scenes that continued to be found. Sydney Van Wyck of San Francisco, who arrived by the tug Wyadda to search for his sisters body was interviewed about the experience. He described bodies found washed ashore terribly mutilated and decomposed. “One body was found yesterday, not identified. This brings the total number recovered to 28. Ten had been previously brought here and eight arrived last night.”
Many bodies were taken to the beach at Darling River to be picked up by boat. “The majority were in badly decomposed condition, some with part of the head and skull missing.” Another search began near the Valencia and no bodies were found, however “following where the sea-gulls were thickest found five bodies floating over a mile from the wreck.” Lineman Logan reported a woman’s body was spotted in the breakers about 100 feet off shore, but they were unable to get close. “Lieut. Stromberg said he would get it if he had to swim for it. He and four men clambered over the rocks, and after many trials secured the body, but the rising water cut them off and they had to spend the night on the rocks without provisions. They were taken off the next day.” While the Wyadda continued searching for bodies it became possible to take a close look at the Valencia and the unbelievably difficult location she came to be in. Van Wyck recalled, “When the Wyadda was bound down with the five bodies recovered by the Perry this morning she stopped off the wreck and we sent in a dory with two Nome beachmen who got off three bodies which Capt. Smith had ready. Capt. Patterson and myself, with some seamen again visited the wreck, and went to the inside of it, within fifteen feet of the high cliff, which is 150 feet high and with about 30 feet of an overhang – making it impossible for anyone who reached shore from the wreck to climb it.”
Sydney Van Wyck’s continued the story of the search for his sister, “The boat again went over the wreck and I broke off a piece of the spar. The hull was seen plainly, and its plates were seen broken. No bodies were seen. I sure that all is being done this is practicable, though if it were a more settled community more men and steamers could be secured to more adequately search for victims. There were some theories that my sister’s body have been looted of rings, and clothing, but I do not think so. I will leave tomorrow for San Francisco with my sister’s body, which has been positively identified, a local dentist having carefully examined her dental work and compared it with descriptions, and expect to reach San Francisco on Wednesday.”
Shortly after 3pm on Tuesday afternoon on January 23rd the Valencia’s owners in Seattle received a message that the Valencia had gone ashore somewhere west of the Carmanah Lighthouse on Vancouver ...
All six boats launched in the first frantic 30 minutes after the Valencia wrecked were smashed against the ship or flipped and smashed against the base of the solid rock cliffs along the shore. ...
The Valencia was a 252-foot-long passenger steamship built in 1882 in Philadelphia. She served as a passenger ship down the eastern coast of North America until 1898 when she was sold to the Pacific ...
The Valencia wrecked just before midnight on Monday, January 22nd, 1906. Nearly 34 hours later, at 9am Wednesday morning the situation on the Valencia was horrific. Battered by waves, the ship was ...
The Raita shipwreck is located off the reefs at about the 33 kilometre mark of the West Coast Trail. Located just offshore and most remnants of this wreck are hidden under the waves. Some of the ...
Seven kilometres into the West Coast Trail you will come to the shipwreck of the Sarah, hidden under the waves near the shoreline route of the trail. The Sarah was a three masted barque of 1206 ...
The Varsity was a fishing boat of 90 tons, returning to Puget Sound from California on February 5th, 1940. In bad weather and stormy seas, she abruptly struck the shore, just a kilometre past, what is ...
The Puritan was a 4 masted schooner of 614 tons sailing inbound from San Francisco in ballast. She was heading for Port Gamble in Washington to pick up a load of lumber when the crew failed to ...
The Alaskan was a small, wooden hulled steamship of 150 tons built in Oregon in 1886. She was owned by a Vancouver freight company and was on route to Kildonan in Barkley Sound with 100 tons of box ...
When shipping in and out of Juan de Fuca Strait rapidly increased in the mid 1800's and an alarming and costly number of ships were lost, the need for a inland trail was realized. It would take decades, and many more brutal and costly shipwrecks in the waters leading to
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There are three entry/exit points for the West Coast Trail, however the midway entry/exit point at Nitinaht Narrows is for hikers only hiking part of the trail. The two main entry points are at Pachena Bay in the north(Bamfield) and Gordon River in the south(Port ...
There are lots of options to getting to the West Coast Trail. The trail is linear so you have to arrange to get to the trailhead as well as from your exit trailhead. Most West Coast Trail hikers drive to one trailhead then bus to the other and hike back to their car. ...
The West Coast Trail is a very tough hike. About one out of one hundred hikers don't make it, they need to be rescued. That's why there are so many fees. By the time you are done preparing and registering, you laugh at how hiking got so expensive. Isn't hiking usually ...
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West Coast Trail has a dizzying array of beautiful sights to see. Unfortunately due to the difficulty of the trail, weather, or just too much focus on finishing the trail, many amazing things are missed, or simply glossed over quickly. Darling Falls, for example, is a ...
A week after the wreck of the Valencia, The Daily Colonist of Victoria ran a cover story about the aftermath of the disaster and the horrific scenes that continued to be found. Sydney Van Wyck of San Francisco, who arrived by the tug Wyadda to search for his sisters body was interviewed about the experience. He described bodies found washed ashore terribly mutilated and decomposed. “One body was found yesterday, not identified. This brings the total number recovered to 28. Ten had been previously brought here and eight arrived last night.”
1. The Valencia 
