Thomas Carrick, the first assistant engineer on the Valencia survived on the second raft picked up by the Topeka. In the chaotic first hour of the wreck, Carrick was in charge of the No.7 lifeboat. Timothy McCarthy, boatswain on the Valencia recalled, “No.7 was a wrecking boat and was small. She was in charge of Assistant Engineer Carrick. As she was lowered, one end became unfastened, and the people in her were spilled into the sea, all losing their lives except Carrick, who was pulled on board by his shipmates.”
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
The Valencia wrecked just before midnight on Monday, January 22nd. About 34 hours later, at 10am 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. 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 of two rafts left the Valencia half full, with just 10 men on board. 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 Thomas Carrick and 18 other men and set off twenty minutes after the first. Breaking into the open sea they paddled furiously toward the distant ships.
In an interview days later Carrick described the horrific scene on the Valencia before he jumped overboard to get on the raft: “The raft we left on 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.”
The battered raft headed out to sea toward the rescue ship, the Queen in the distance. To their horror the Queen sailed away. When they lost sight of it they turned toward the land. Freezing and constantly wet they were tossed by the waves and two hours later, close to dead from exposure, they sighted another ship, the Topeka and were finally rescued. Carrick remembered the moment the City of Topeka was sighted. "An incoherent shout from one of the passengers drew our attention and following his pointed finger we saw what afterwards proved to be the Topeka.” Freight clerk Frank Lehn recalled the excitement at that moment. “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 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 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.”
Close to Death Before Rescue
Carrick also remembered how desperately close to death they were. “It seemed as though her arrival was a merciful messenger from God. In a few minutes she was alongside, but some of the men lay inert and powerless to grasp lines cast from the Topeka. Finally, all were hauled aboard and every attention was shown us by the rescue party. If the Topeka had not arrived when she did we would probably have been lost, all of us were rapidly succumbing to the intense cold.” The nineteen men picked up by the second raft, which became known as the Topeka Raft were: passenger Cornelius Allison, first assistant engineer Tom Carrick, fireman William Doherty, baker Charles Fluhme, passenger George Harraden, passenger A.H. Hawkins, waiter Charles Hoddinott, third cook John Johnson, coal passer W.D. Johnson, first assistant freight clerk Frank Lehn, passenger Joseph McCaffrey, waiter Patrick O’Brien, second officer Peter Peterson, fireman Paul Primer, messman Walter Raymond, quartermaster Martin Tarpey, waiter John Walsh, passenger Grant L. Willitts and fireman John Segalos.
Valencia Second Life Raft January 24th, 1906
The barely alive men on the raft had no way of knowing that the Valencia crumbled into the sea about one hour ago, killing all the remaining survivors. They wouldn’t hear that news for a couple more hours. When they asked about the first raft, they were dumbfounded to hear it must still be out there. They barely survived three hours of hell on the second raft, the first raft, later called the Turret Raft was still going through hell. A horrific journey considerably more brutal and lasting 26 hours. When the Topeka Raft was getting rescued, the nightmare on the Turret Raft was just beginning.
Twelve of Valencia's Crew on the Topeka
