The Valencia Shipwreck on the West Coast TrailFrank Connors 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 Connors Valencia Survivor

Frank Connors Valencia Survivor 1906Frank Connors was a waiter on the Valencia and only one of four men that miraculously survived on the Turret Raft.  The first of two life rafts, which could hold 18 people, departed Wednesday morning, the 24th of January, with only 10 on board as everyone else was afraid to get on and many expected rescue to come quickly now that a ship had arrived.  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.