Frank Connors was a waiter on the Valencia and only one of four men that miraculously survived on the first life raft, later dubbed the Turret Raft that departed the Valencia Wednesday morning, the 24th of January The raft could hold 18 people, but only 10 boarded it as everyone else was afraid to get on and many expected rescue to come quickly now that a ship had arrived.
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
Not only was there hope for rescue, but the difficulty of actually getting on one of the rafts deterred all but these ten men. The rafts had to be kept away from the side of the Valencia in order to keep it from slamming into it. To get on the raft you had to jump from the ship into the freezing ocean surging in and out and crashing all around. If you do get on a raft you will be freezing cold, soaking wet and constantly hit by waves coming over the sides. Frank Connors dove into the water from the maintopmast to try to catch the first raft as it was leaving and smashed his face on something underwater. When he surfaced he was pulled onto the raft bleeding from his nose and mouth. This raft would wander up the coast, pulled by the current for hours. One by one, the men on the raft died of exposure or driven insane by the agony, jumped into the ocean and drowned. They landed on Turret Island around midnight, fourteen hours after leaving the Valencia. When morning came there were only four men still alive and three dead bodies on the raft pulled high on the beach. The four set off to search the island for help and at about 9am Thursday, January 25th Connors split from the group to search for a lighthouse he imagined he saw. The other three men would find help at about noon and taken off the island. Connors would be found the following day, miraculously still alive, though barely.
10am Wed 24th Jan: Leaving the Valencia
The first raft which Frank Connors was on left with only ten men at about 10am. In charge of the raft was third assistant engineer Robert Nelson. Also on board were, chief cook Sam Hancock, fireman Max Stensler, fireman George Long, waiter John Wallace, passenger Adam Rolph, passenger W. Wilson, and two passengers on leave from the US Navy, Harvey Gnegy and another man name unknown. Hancock later recalled the launching of the first raft:
About 9am Wednesday morning a big wave broke over the ship. It was then concluded to launch the life rafts which were all ready. Finding we were on the point of sinking the chief officer came to him to organize a party to man the rafts. Most all declined to go, even his 2nd and 3rd men and chief baker, none of the engineers but Nelson came.
The three men Hancock refers to as his 2nd, 3rd men and chief baker were second cook James Cameron, third cook John Johnson and baker Charles Fluhme. James Cameron would not survive when the Valencia finally collapsed into the sea about two hours after Hancock and the others departed on the first life raft. John Johnson and Charles Fluhme survived on the second life raft that departed soon after the first raft and was rescued by the City of Topeka at 1pm, just three hours after it left the Valencia. It is worth noting that the nineteen men rescued by the Topeka were in bad condition and close to death from hypothermia. The first raft that Connors was on was just beginning its nightmare journey that would last 14 hours.
Connors and the others rowed as best they could toward the Queen, however the current relentlessly dragged them up the coast, away from the Queen. The huge ocean swells and bad weather made them practically invisible to nearby ships even if they were looking for them. Which, incredibly, by about 11am they were not. The Queen had been ordered back to Victoria and was steaming into the distance. The two smaller vessels the Salvor and the Czar, afraid to approach the Valencia as they feared wrecking themselves, departed to Bamfield to send a rescue party by land. Another vessel, the City of Topeka was to relieve the Queen and stay in the vicinity of the Valencia, however a miscommunication caused the Topeka to not find the Valencia.
4pm Wed 24th Jan: First Man Dies of Exposure
The time was now about 4pm, they had been on the raft for six hours and all were hypothermic and the constant submersion in cold water was driving them insane. Around this time the US navy man with the unknown name died of exposure. Reporter, R.P. Dunn, who interviewed Hancock hours after being rescued, wrote in the Victoria Daily Times:
“So poignant was the disappointment that one of the passengers, who was of more delicate appearance than the others, and whose vitality was unequal to the mental and physical strain gave up the unequal fight and in a few minutes passed away. The others, knowing that every unnecessary pound of weight on their slight craft reduced their chance of surviving, dropped his body overboard.”
Little is known about this man except that he was in the navy and probably serving on the same ship as fellow passenger Harvey Gnegy. What is known for sure is that they were close friends and Gnegy was opposed to having his friend thrown overboard. He particularly resented Sam Hancock for the incident, which suggests that Hancock directed this action.
5pm Wed 24th Jan: "I saw him dashed against the rocks..."
Still being dragged up the coast by the current and their last hope, Cape Beale Lighthouse fading in the distance, the nine men barely alive on the raft gave up hope. They gave up on rowing and having no idea where they were, they floated aimlessly north. Soon another passenger Adam Rolph, driven mad from the helpless agony of drifting nowhere, jumped overboard and drowned. From his interview with Hancock, R.P. Dunn wrote about what drove Adam Rolph to jump from the raft.
“Who can place himself in such a position and imagine the dreadful strain upon the castaways in their struggle for life, mental and physical, and not acknowledge that the outcome was most natural? Those not inured to the hardships of the sea either sank benumbed with the extreme cold or else became so frenzied with despair as to reach a condition bordering upon insanity. The latter was the fate of a fashionably dressed passenger. He was best with all kinds of illusions. Finally, he swore that there was an island a few feet off and that he could swim the distance easily. Suiting the action to the word he precipitated himself into the sea and was never seen again. Probably the body reported to have been found on an island in the neighbourhood will, when identified, prove to be that poor fellow’s remains.”
Adam Rolph was a passenger on the Valencia heading back to his wife and five children in New Westminster where he lived for twenty years. The Daily Colonist reported that Rolph had recently resigned his position as bookkeeper at the St. Mungo Cannery, Fraser River, and went to San Francisco to engage in a business venture there. Mrs. Rolph received a letter from him that his plans had miscarried and that he was returning on the Valencia. Frank Connors, also on the raft with Rolph, later recalled, “I saw him dashed against the rocks, we were unable to help him.” Rolph's body was found a couple days later, washed ashore not far from where he jumped from the raft.
5pm-6pm Wed 24th Jan: W. Wilson Leaped into the Sea
Probably around 5 or 6pm they drifted into Barkley Sound and the scattering of islands of the Broken Group. Distant islands appeared around them, though they had given up hope and had no strength left to row. Even if they could muster the strength to row, they felt hopeless against the relentless current. At this point the eight remaining survivors on the raft had endured about eight hours of agony, soaking wet with freezing seawater, W. Wilson leaped into the sea and swam toward one of the far away islands. He drowned in the attempt, leaving only seven desperate men on the raft.
11pm Wed 24th Jan: Reach Land After 14 Hours
The current dragged them as they watched helplessly, now in darkness, as distant shadows of islands passed them on either side. There was suddenly renewed hope when they found themselves drifting toward an island. Of the seven men on the raft, three were so close to death they barely moved. The other four, Sam Hancock, Max Stensler, George Long and Frank Connors manned the oars and struggled closer and closer. Probably between 11pm and midnight, Wednesday, January 24th, after fourteen hours of hell they landed on Turret Island. The four men managed to pull the raft above the high water mark and collapsed to the ground exhausted. The other three men, third assistant engineer Robert Nelson, waiter John Wallace and passenger Harvey Gnegy barely moved. Gnegy and Nelson were nearly dead from exposure and Wallace was probably already dead.
12am-5am Thurs 25th Jan: Gnegy Attacks Hancock
At some point during the night, Harvey Gnegy sprang to life apparently possessed with the idea that Hancock was “a wild dog and good to eat.” Gnegy jumped on the sleeping Hancock and began choking him. Hancock and the others woke and overpowered Gnegy who had lost his mind. Apparently the first man on the raft to die, the unknown navy man that the others pushed into the sea was a close friend of Harvey Gnegy. The others would later speculate that this was the cause of the hate directed at Hancock. After the attack, Gnegy shrank back and collapsed. He never moved again.
5am Thurs 25th Jan: Search for Help
In the morning at about 5am, with daylight approaching, Hancock, Stensler, Long and Connors woke. They had no idea where they were, but finally on solid ground they could walk in search for help. They were sure that John Wallace was dead, but believed that Harvey Gnegy and Robert Nelson were still be alive, though barely. They hoped to find help and return to the raft for Gnegy and Nelson when they do. Wandering into the forest they soon lost their way back to the raft and focussed on just moving forward.
9am Thurs 25th Jan: Connors Splits from Group
After a few hours wandering through the forest, they decided it was best to walk along the shoreline as close as possible. It was now about 9am, 23 hours since they left the Valencia, and it seems Frank Connors was beginning to lose his mind. He insisted that in the other direction they would find Cape Beale Lighthouse. The others ridiculed this idea and Connors set off on his own into the forest along. Hancock, Stensler and Long continued along the coast while Connors headed inland and disappeared. Along one stretch of beach the trio found oranges that must have drifted in from the Valencia. The greedily ate them and then searched around for anything else edible. They found some sort of vegetation along the forest and tried digging for clams, but found none.
12pm Thurs 25th Jan: Hancock, Stensler and Long Found
At about noon on Thursday January 25th January Sam Hancock, Max Stensler and George Long found by the sister of Charlie Ross, a first nations policeman. They were taken to a small settlement on the island and a few hours later, at about 9pm they were picked up by the Shamrock, a small steamer, and taken to Toquart, the nearest settlement along Ucluelet Arm. They arrived at Toquart at 10:40pm and were cared for at the house of Government Lineman H.J. Helliers.
9am Fri 26th Jan: Survivors Report Connors Still On the Island
Friday morning, January 26th the Salvor in Bamfield received news that survivors had been found on Turret Island. The Salvor rushes to Toquart and picks up the three Turret Raft survivors. Sam Hancock, Max Stensler and George Long were taken aboard the Salvor at about 9am and the Salvor learns that "waiter Connors" is possibly still alive somewhere on Turret Island. "Waiter Connors", is mistakenly reported in many newspapers as "Walter Connors", which is why you see this incorrect name frequently. The Salvor then rushed from Toquart to Turret Island to search for Frank Connors.
Hancock and Long Boarding the Salvor
2pm Fri 26th Jan: Connors Found on Turret Island
2pm Friday Jan 26th: The boat that set off from the Salvor along the coast in an easterly direction found Frank Connors after about one mile laying on a log in the sun.
4pm Sat 27th Jan: Connors and Long Arrive in Victoria
4pm Saturday Jan 27th: The Salvor brought Frank Connors and George Long to Victoria and both were immediately sent to the marine hospital, as they are suffering severely, being badly bruised and swollen from exposure. Sam Hancock and Max Stensler on their way to Seattle.
After the Disaster
Frank Connors returned to his home in Seattle and declared in one interview in the San Francisco Examiner:
"I have decided never to go to sea again, for this is my fourth wreck. I was on board the City of Puebla when she broke her shaft; on the steam schooner Tillamook when she ran ashore at Wood Island, Alaska, and on the City of Grand Rapids when she was burned at West Seattle."