Frank Lehn was the first assistant freight clerk on the SS Valencia, a passenger steamer of the Pacific Coast Steamship Company. A San Francisco resident living with his wife, he had served reliably with the company for about 10 years across various vessels and was well-regarded by crews for his competence and likability.
The Valencia Disaster
1. The Valencia 2. The Voyage 3. The Boats 4. The McCarthy Boat 5. The Bunker Party 6. On the Valencia 7. The Rafts 8. The Turret Raft 9. The Rescue Ships 10. The Aftermath 11. The Survivors 12. The Lost
The West Coast Trail
Prologue 1: The West Coast Trail 2: When to Hike & Fees 3: Trailheads 4: Getting There 5: Considerations 6: Campsites 7: Shipwrecks 8: Routes 9: Sights & Highlights
On the night of January 22, 1906, the Valencia struck disaster off Vancouver Island's rugged west coast—now part of the West Coast Trail—claiming over 130 lives in what became one of the Pacific Northwest's most tragic maritime disasters. Lehn was among the 38 survivors (all men; no women or children survived). His vivid, lengthy account, published shortly after in newspapers, provides one of the most complete eyewitness records of the horror.
“As we pulled away, we could see the poor souls huddled together on the after deck. Oh, how I pitied them, as I realized that theirs was a lingering death. We had little hope of saving our own lives, but it was the only chance.”
Just before midnight on Monday, January 22nd the Valencia struck a rock or ledge a few hundred metres from the shore of Vancouver Island. With her bow lodged on the underwater obstruction, the Valencia’s stern drifted to point toward the shore. It was estimated that in the first 5 or 6 minutes that 6 feet of water had already poured into the ship and she was sinking fast. Captain Johnson ordered the ship’s engines full astern into the darkness to beach her before sinking. Moments later she backed onto a reef just 18 metres from the shore and surrounded by crashing water. In relation to the West Coast Trail today, the location is just past KM18 and in the middle of a 4 kilometre stretch of steep cliffs and jagged reefs.
Approximate Location of the Valencia Along the West Coast Trail
The Valencia was surrounded by huge waves breaking over the surrounding reefs and slamming into the ship. Frank Lehn later described the chaos:
When the ship first struck there was wild excitement. The screams of men, women and children mingled in awful chorus with the shriek of the wind, the dash of the rain and the roar of the breakers. It was pandemonium. The shouts of the officers could hardly be heard, and the rush of the passengers as they ran hither and thither created a confusion which for a time seemed uncontrollable. Women came from their staterooms half clad, dragging children by the hands or clasping babies to their breasts; men clad only in their night attire sprang from their berths and rushed to the boats, only to be beaten back by the officers and sailors, who were doing their best to restore order and control the 140 odd people. Children became lost from their mothers; wives, lost track of their husbands; all ran here and there, seeking for each other and for safety. God only knows how many were swept away as soon as they touched the deck.
Great seas broke over the ship as soon as she struck the second time, and when she drifted back on the reef, stern on, the seas raked her from fore to aft, carrying everything before them. Never have I seen such waves. They appeared to be as high as the masthead. One after another in rapid succession they rolled over us, and people were carried away in bunches. Their agonized shrieks could be heard above all the fiendish roar of the wind and sea.
The vessel began to break up almost as soon as she struck. There was never built a ship which could have withstood the terrible rush and force of these waves. She ground and pounded and chafed against the rocks, and every minute something broke loose. As quickly as possible the women and children were placed in the rigging. How some of the women clad only in their night dresses, stood the icy wind and rain and sea, as long as they did, was a mystery to me. The sight was terrible. To see these fragile creatures clinging to the almost frozen ropes, standing on a ratline in their bare feet and possibly clasping in their arms a little child, endeavoring to shield it as much as possible from the gale, fairly wrung our hearts.
Valencia's Final Route to Disaster
12-12:30am Tuesday 23 Jan 1906: Lifeboats Launched
The Valencia was equipped with six lifeboats and a smaller working boat. These seven boats could hold up to 181 people. Just enough to accommodate the 170 crew and passengers aboard. There were also three life rafts on board which could hold up to 12-18 people each, though one slid off the ship and was lost. Moments later the ship collided with a rock shelf and held in that position. The captain then ordered the lifeboats lowered to the saloon rail in preparation for launching. Panic ensued in darkness, rain, crashing waves, and boiling surf. Officers and crew were overwhelmed by the chaos. Six boats would be launched in the frantic 30 minutes that followed. Lifeboats No.1, No.4 and the working boat No. 7 were haphazardly released or cut free causing them to fall by one end and tossing the passengers into the water drowning all but one. Passengers watched in horror as dozens of people, many of them woman and children disappeared into the swirling ocean next to the ship.
Three boats were successfully launched during this time with an estimated 50 people on board. These were boats No.2, No.3 and No.6. All three managed to pull away from the ship for some distance until boats 3 and 6 were flipped over by waves. Boat No.2 is thought to have been flipped as well, however the Valencia’s power went out causing the spotlight on the boat to go dark and it vanished into the night. Though the frantic people still on board the Valencia did not know it, eleven people survived from the boats. One man made it to the rocky shore near the Valencia at the base of a tall cliff. Ten others were thrown onto the shore about 250 metres northwest of the Valencia out of sight due to a small point of land separating them.
Lehn described the launching of the lifeboats:
When order was somewhat restored, Captain Johnson gave the order to get out into the port amidships boat. The men worked with a will and risked their lives a dozen times over in the effort to get the craft launched. They would cling to their ropes while a great wave swept over the wreck, and as soon as the water subsided would get to work on the craft again. As soon as it was free from the ship and hanging in the davits a great breaker smashed her to kindling wood and carried away some of the sailors who were handling the craft. The port quarter boat was then tried, and after repeating the same performance it was also crushed against the vessel's side, breaking like an eggshell.
The Valencia's Port Side Lifeboats
Lifeboat #1
Lehn went on to describe the launching of boat #1:
"Try the starboard quarter boat," sang out the captain, and with a will the men rushed to this boat and loosed her from the lashings. Working between waves and watching their chance, the sailors finally succeeded in swinging her clear.
‘Women and children first,’ was the cry of the officers, and from the rigging the poor frozen creatures were tenderly, if roughly, lifted down and placed in the boat. Some of them were weeping, most of them were praying, and it was well that they did. Only enough men to manage the craft went on board. There was no rush. The officers were prepared to stop it with bullets if it had occurred, but the passengers seemed endeavoring to see who could be the most self-sacrificing. At last the boat was loaded. Fathers cried goodbye to their children, husbands bade adieu to their wives. Few words could be heard above the roar of the elements, but in the blinding glare of the searchlight every detail was distinct as possible.
That picture of the crowded boat as she swung from the davits with its load of women, children and a few men, burned itself even now in my brain. I can see them even now, there in the dark water, with its angry sweep and crest of foam, its black cliffs only a hundred yards away where the spray dashed up a hundred feet, the wreck with its burden of suffering humanity. Oh, it was awful!”
Then the order was given to lower away. Skillfully the sailors started, watching their chance and guiding the craft from every great care. Suddenly a cry from every soul on board penetrated the night. The stern falls had broken and she was slipping. We were frozen with the horror of it. Like a shot the stern of the boat fell to the water’s edge, leaving the bow hanging high in the air. The occupants were spilled out like pebbles from a glass and fell with shrieks and groans into the boiling surf. The next wave swept them away, and where the glare of the searchlight played on the water we could see the white, terrified faces of the drowning people flash by with the look of deathly fear such as is seldom seen.
It happened in an instant. All was over before any could even move. Thirty persons had been swept to their doom before our startled eyes and we stood trembling and mutely praying.
Lifeboat #6
The next lifeboat Lehn described was almost certainly lifeboat #6, which was launched with Frank Bunker, his wife, his two children, Frank Richley and six other men. Frank Bunker and Frank Richley figure prominently among the survivors of the Valencia disaster. Lehn’s recollection of what he saw is wonderfully detailed:
The strong voice of the captain, touched with tears, broke the spell which bound us all. ‘Get out the amidships boat’ he ordered, and the sailors stationed there swung her over the side.
‘Get those women down from the rigging and put them in that boat,’ he ordered again, and willing hands sprang to do his bidding. With skill born of practice this boat was swung from the side and filled with women, children and men. Watching carefully every move, the sailors at last cast off their falls when the crest of a great wave had risen them high in the air.
The searchlight was turned on them and we could see every muscle in the sailors' great bodies stand out as their oars breasted the gale and sea. Wave after wave beat terribly against their boat, but the sailors, bending their backs like bows, pulled not only for their own lives, but for the lives of the women and children.
At last, they started to forge ahead. 'They are saved!' was the cry from all on board, and a cheer went up from the hundred souls left. Even the faces of the terrified women in the little boat took on a more hopeful expression as they began to clear the wreck. We all thought them saved, when suddenly a great breaker, larger by far than any that I ever saw, aided by a terrible gust of wind, struck the boat, slewed her around in spite of all that the man at the steering oar and the sailors could do and the next minute she was overturned! God! What a sight!
The searchlight showed every detail of the terrible tragedy—the men and women struggling in the water, the faces ghastly in the glare; eyes which gazed toward us unseeingly already glazed with the touch of death, the little bodies of children swept toward the terrible rocks, all in a wild chaos of boiling water. In an instant it all vanished. One man struggled desperately to cling to the upturned boat, and his set face was terrifying as he battled against the hand of death which clutched him. Next minute he, too, was swept out of sight, and the searchlight revealed only a tossing, rolling, terrifying rush of water.
What Lehn didn’t see was Bunker and Richley managing to claw their way out of the water and survive the night freezing against the cliff with seven other survivors from another lifeboat.
Surviving the Night: Tuesday Morning 23 Jan 1906
Remaining on board were an estimated 90 to 110 people. They had just witnessed 60 to 80 people drown or disappear into the night and 6 of their 7 lifeboats destroyed or lost. Survivors later testified that this all occurred within 30 minutes of backing onto the reef. With the time just a few minutes after midnight and the ship’s power gone, they had only two small hand lamps to wait out the night. The survivors were mostly located in the dining saloon and what food that could be salvaged was shared around. Most of the food and supplies on the Valencia were already under water or inaccessible. Throughout the night the ship was hammered by the ocean and quickly breaking apart, settling lower. By Tuesday morning water was rising into the saloon and passengers had to move higher and higher on the ship. People packed into the small staterooms on the saloon deck and most were forced onto the hurricane deck.
During the night rockets and flares were set off in an attempt to attract help from the sea or shore. The captain and crew also hoped to get a glimpse of the coastline in the hopes of getting a clue of their location and a look at the nearby shore. As morning approached the Valencia began breaking apart. The bridge, pilot house, chart house and forward house were being torn from the hull. Huge swells were crashing over the bow and relentlessly smashing apart the upper parts of the ship. The situation on the ship was getting more and more desperate. Throughout the night the mood was quiet and calm, however the mood was changing as the ship crumbled away under them. Lehn described the first night through to the next morning:
I clung part of the time to the after cabins, which were crowded with people. The ship was under water up to the hurricane deck, and it was all a man’s life was worth to lose his hold of a good solid support for a single instant. Hour after hour passed as we clung to the framework of the cabin and waited for dawn. At last the morning dawned. It was a cheerless scene. The forward part of the ship was practically all under water. In the fore rigging about forty or fifty people still clung, although how they managed to survive the night is a mystery to me. The ship was washed by wave after wave. About a hundred yards from us loomed the cliffs. It was a precipitous wall of rock which came sheer down to the water's edge. The waves went in with a rush and roar and dashed themselves against the wall in an impotent fury. The spray was driven fully 100 feet up the face of the cliff and was swept back with a mighty rush. On the mainmast of the Valencia clung a crowd of people. All ages and both sexes were represented. All were shivering and barely able to hold out. After a night such as we had passed through, I wonder that anyone was alive.
The bodies of the drowned, which must by that time, must have numbered fully sixty, were seen floating around the beach and dashing up against the iron bound cliff, which loomed so close to us. The bodies were caught by the waves, thrown against the rocks and then caught by the undertow and drawn back. The sight was horrible.
12pm Tues 23 Jan 1906: Segalos Attempts to Swim to Land
Frank Lehn also recalled John Segalos bravely attempting to swim a rope to shore. He recalls it happened at 8am, however other reports have it much later, and 12pm seems to be the correct time he made the heroic attempt.
About this time, possibly 8 o'clock in the morning, a fireman named Segalos stated he was going to swim ashore and would carry a line with him. The man stripped, and with a light line attached to his waist, plunged into the boiling surf. Then suddenly he appeared on the crest of a wave swimming bravely for the land. It was a wonderful exhibition of strength and skill. With such a sea it was only the most expert swimmer that could have survived an instant. But the brave fireman struggled against the waves, he was tossed like a chip, buried in the foam and smothered by the waves, but always bobbed up triumphantly. But try as he would he could not make the land. The strong undertow caught him and drew him back time after time, and finally we pulled him aboard ship. He was in the water fully half an hour. This man was a wonder.
9:30am Wed 24 Jan, The Queen Finds Valencia
The Valencia wrecked just before midnight on Monday, January 22nd. About 34 hours later, at about 9am Wednesday morning the situation on the Valencia was horrific. Battered by waves, the ship was breaking apart and sinking lower into the crashing ocean. Rescue ships had appeared in the distance, however no attempt at rescue had been made. Thomas Carrick, first assistant engineer on the Valencia later recalled, “The first ship that hove in sight was the Queen. The weather was nice until that time, but the wind shifted and a choppy sea set in. The Queen stood off about a mile and a half. I saw two boats swinging from the davits as if they were in readiness to be lowered.” Sam Hancock, the chief cook on the Valencia remembered, “The Queen came within a reasonable distance and stopped. A short time after two other vessels came in sight. The Queen apparently spoke the vessels and a tug came towards us, but turned around immediately and went away. No boat was lowered by any of the vessels.” Joseph McCafferty, a passenger would later testify in the Valencia inquiry, “When the steamers Queen, Salvor and Czar came in sight he thought that it would be a matter of only a short time before all were rescued. Frank Lehn described what he remembered:
Along about 9 o'clock we sighted a steamer in the offing. She came to within about a mile of us and lay there. At first we thought we were saved. There was joy among us poor castaways then. The women in the rigging pulled off their dresses to wave to the steamer, and the men shouted with joy. But the steamer kept off in the distance and we soon saw that she could not approach closer. In a short time she was joined by a tug. Now we expected aid, for a light draft vessel could have reached us. But she, too, kept away. No man can understand the agony of watching these two vessels out there, and knowing that they were anxious to aid us but were unable to do so.
Here we were clinging to the rigging or to the bits of the deck house which was left, and there was the steamer and the tug about a mile off anxious to help us. This was worse than death. The poor women felt it the most keenly. But they showed a heroism that put the men to shame. Most of them prayed, and I hope their religion gave them comfort. Few of them murmured. All were noble and self sacrificing. But it was a terrible experience to see those two ships in the offing and then to look at those women in the rigging, almost frozen by the flying spray and rain and only half clothed. Every little while when a great roller would come over us some poor devil in the rigging or on the deck would be swept away or dashed on the rocks.
Two Life Rafts Left
Knowing the ship could collapse under the waves at any moment, the crew decided to launch the last two life rafts. The rafts are designed to float and remain stable, however those on board would be constantly soaked from waves crashing over the sides. The survivors on the Valencia were already freezing cold, hungry and thirsty and most refused to get on the rafts. The first raft to be launched had only 10 men on board as everyone else was afraid to get on and expected rescue to come quickly now that a ship had arrived. Boarding the raft from the Valencia was done by jumping from the ship into the freezing ocean far below. This, along with many other reasons may explain why the raft was only partly filled.
Valencia's First Raft, the Turret Raft
To ensure the ship in the distance, the Queen had spotted them, the captain fired the Lyle gun three times. Not expected to get far, it broke over the breakers and out to sea with surprisingly little difficulty. The second raft was then packed with 19 men and set off twenty minutes after the first. Breaking into the open sea they paddled furiously toward the distant ships. Thomas Carrick, the first assistant engineer on the Valencia was part of the Valencia inquiry in the days that followed the disaster. On January 29th The Call newspaper reported on part of Carrick's interview, “The other raft was launched about twenty minutes before we left. There were ten persons aboard it. The question was asked why more passengers and less of the crew did not board the craft. “Did the sailors attempt to crowd the passengers off?” was asked. “No,” was the answer of the witness. “The passengers would not leave the ship.” Carrick said the first raft cleared the ship’s side in safety and had little trouble getting out into the open sea. “The raft we left on” said Carrick, “was the last thing aboard the ship for anyone to get on. The Valencia was broken up and the two parts of her were ten to fifteen feet apart, the stern working toward the shore. The foremast was standing, but there was no one in the rigging. The only persons washed overboard that I saw were a woman and her child. The seas were very heavy and knocked us down unless we had something to hold to. There was only about fifteen feet of the hurricane deck left for us to stand on, and I should judge that there were fifty to seventy-five persons on this.” “When we put off from the ship on the raft I called to my oilers in the rigging to come with us, but they refused. All the forward part of the vessel was under water at this time. There was no disobedience to commands at any time. Every member of the crew obeyed the orders of his superiors, as far as I knew. When we pulled away from the vessel the last words I heard the captain say were: ‘Goodbye Tom. For God’s sake try to save your passengers and crew.” The raft departed crowded with 19 men and cleared the breakers without much difficulty. The crew had four oars and also used bits of wreckage to paddle.
Frank Lehn was on this life raft and described what he remembered:
We had now only two life rafts left. One was got ready and in charge of Peter Nelson, third assistant engineer and nine other men, put off. It was a struggle through the breakers; but they finally made it, and disappeared in the distance, swept up the coast by the wind and sea. Then we attempted to reach the Queen in the last remaining raft. Volunteers were called for, but no one seemed to want to go. After canvassing the passengers only five were found who were willing to risk their lives on the raft.
The crew were more willing. They realized that the ship was fast going to pieces and that if we made the ship we were saved. If not, why, we could only drown, as we were certain to do on the ship. Just before certain I talked to Capt. Johnson and he told me the he would never under any circumstances leave the ship alive. Although he was in a measure to blame, he could not be held solely responsible, for the simple fact any skipper is liable to lose his bearings when near the Vancouver Island coast.
I also saw the chief engineer (William E. Downing). He was doing everything possible to aid the people on board. He had a revolver in his pocket, which he informed me was to be used just before the time of drowning came, as he preferred a quick death from a gunshot rather than a slow strangulation by the water.
Lehn was one of the last to leave the Valencia and board the life raft. He recalled his decision at that moment. He was watching the launch of the life raft from the upper deck and could feel the woodwork of the Valencia move beneath him from the force of the waves. He remembered shouting at his friend, "Bill I'm going to take a chance," he jumped into the water and got aboard the raft.
It was with a sorrowful heart that I bade them adieu. The breakers looked so tremendous that I never expected to see the raft get through. But by super human efforts they succeeded, and at last gained the outer edge. Then the Queen put about and left us. The agony of the minute almost broke our hearts. We started back to the ship. When almost alongside of her again we saw another steamer coming. Once again we started. How we did work at the oars; every man strained at them for his life. The cold waves washing over us and the sleet beating on our heads was forgotten. Nearer and nearer we came to her and we shouted with all our strength, but as the wind was against us we could not make ourselves heard. The steamer was stopped and let drift with the wind and current. Suddenly she started and turned out to sea. We almost gave up. If she had gone away we would have died right there. But then she came nearer us every moment. We had one of the men standing in the centre waving a boat hook with a shirt on it. At last, their whistle blew as a token that they had seen us. How we shouted for joy. But by that time, we could hardly move. The cold went through us and the rain seemed to pierce our very marrow. Finally, the steamer put out a boat, and when they at last made fast a rope and started to tow us to safety, I think I must have collapsed like everybody else on the raft. That’s a rough sketch of the wreck of the steamer Valencia.
Topeka Boat & Valencia's Second Life Raft January 24th, 1906
Valencia's Second Life Raft January 24th, 1906
Nineteen on Raft Rescued by Ship
Nineteen on raft rescued by ship was the headline in the Buffalo Evening Standard on its January 25th, 1906 edition which described the rescue:
The Topeka picked up a little craft at 1 o'clock yesterday afternoon, six miles off Cape Beale, with 19 survivors of the Valencia on board. The men were in pitiable condition and almost dead from exposure... They were half frozen and practically unconscious from the exposure. The raft was sighted about 12 o'clock. A terrible sea was running. One minute the raft was poised on top of a wave and the next it would be lost from view in the gully formed by the mountainous breakers. The men, on their frail support, battled bravely with a pair of oars to reach the City of Topeka, which could not run any closer to them...The sight of the poor creatures on the raft brought tears to the eyes of the sailors on the vessel. In the stern of the raft sat sat an old man, with snow white hair and pallid features. Three other men were lying in a senseless heap in the rear, washed by every swell and retained solely by the bodies of the other men, who were closely packed. Time and time again great seas swept over them. The work of rescuing them was dangerous. The men were too exhausted to tie a rope about themselves.
Cornelius Allison is recognizable in this photo of the survivors from the second raft boarding the City of Topeka at approximately 1pm on January 24th, 1906, 37 hours after the Valencia wrecked. He is the white haired man sitting in the boat with the white life jacket on. He had just been pulled out of the water after falling off the raft when attempting to board the ship.
The Nineteen Topeka Raft Survivors
The Valencia survivors with Frank Lehn on the second life raft, which became known as the Topeka Raft were: waiter Charles Hoddinott, baker Charles Fluhme, passenger Cornelius Allison, first assistant engineer Thomas Carrick, fireman William Doherty, passenger George Harraden, passenger A.H. Hawkins, third cook John Johnson, coal passer W.D. Johnson, passenger Joseph McCaffrey, waiter Patrick O’Brien, second officer Peter Peterson, fireman Paul Primer, messman Walter Raymond, quartermaster Martin Tarpey, waiter James Walsh, fireman John Segalos and passenger Grant L. Willitts.
Photo of Valencia's Crew on the Topeka, Lehn Top Middle
