The Valencia Shipwreck on the West Coast TrailFrank Campbell Valencia Survivor

The Valencia Disaster

 Shipwreck on the West Coast Trail1. The Valencia Shipwreck on the West Coast Trail2. The Voyage Shipwreck on the West Coast Trail3. The Boats Shipwreck on the West Coast Trail4. The McCarthy Boat Shipwreck on the West Coast Trail5. The Bunker Party Shipwreck on the West Coast Trail6. On the Valencia Shipwreck on the West Coast Trail7. The Rafts Shipwreck on the West Coast Trail8. The Turret Raft Shipwreck on the West Coast Trail9. The Rescue Ships Shipwreck on the West Coast Trail10. The Aftermath Shipwreck on the West Coast Trail11. The Survivors Shipwreck on the West Coast Trail12. The Lost 

The West Coast Trail

Shipwreck on the West Coast TrailPrologue Shipwreck on the West Coast Trail1: The West Coast Trail Shipwreck on the West Coast Trail2: When to Hike & Fees Shipwreck on the West Coast Trail3: Trailheads Shipwreck on the West Coast Trail4: Getting There Shipwreck on the West Coast Trail5: Considerations Shipwreck on the West Coast Trail6: Campsites Shipwreck on the West Coast Trail7: Shipwrecks Shipwreck on the West Coast Trail8: Routes Shipwreck on the West Coast Trail9: Sights & Highlights

Frank Campbell Valencia Survivor

 

The first four boats launched were complete disasters resulting in nearly all the passengers drowning.  The No.3 boat, the fifth boat launched, managed to get away from the Valencia for a short distance with fifteen people on board.  After one of the oars was lost, the boat veered towards the surf and flipped over, drowning eight.  Somehow seven men survived and ended up along the shore at the base of near vertical cliffs about 250 metres north of the Valencia.  The seven survivors were Frank Campbell, Tony Brown, George Billikos, Yosuki Hosoda, Michael Stone, Charles Samuels, and Albert Willis.  Among the drowned were the wife and 16 year old stepdaughter of Frank Campbell. These seven men and Frank Bunker and Frank Richley from another flipped lifeboat formed the Bunker Party after passenger Frank Bunker who took charge of the group.  Some of the party had lost their shoes and set out into the forest through ankle deep snow.  They were lucky to find and follow the telegraph wire that led them out of the forest and onto a beach which they had much less difficulty hiking to reach the Darling River hut.  The Victoria Daily Times printed this picture of the Bunker Party on 29 January, 1906.  The photo was taken at about 3:30pm on Friday, January 26th moments before they started the long hike back out to a ship waiting for them in Pachena Bay.  Frank Bunker, Frank Campbell and Albert Willis are the only three in the picture named by the Victoria Daily Times.  The others in the background are men that hiked in from Bamfield to bring them supplies and guide them back out.