George Long was a fireman on the Valencia who survived on the Turret Raft. Long was an Irishman and had been working on ships all around the world for 16 years. He home was in San Francisco and reportedly took the place of P. Delhanty as a fireman on the Valencia just a few hours before sailing.
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
George Long and chief cook Sam Hancock, waiter Frank Connors and fireman Max Stensler miraculously survived the horrific time on the first of the two life rafts launched from the Valencia at about 10am on Wednesday, January 24th. Thirty-four hours had passed since the Valencia first wrecked. They frantically paddled toward the rescue ship, the Queen which lay less than 2 miles out to sea. The first raft 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. To ensure the Queen had spotted the ship, the captain fired the Lyle gun three times hoping the ship would hear. The raft managed to clear the surf without much difficulty, though water quickly poured inside and kept the men constantly wet and cold. They rowed as best they could toward the Queen, however the current dragged them west.
Valencia's Life Rafts
This is a photo of the first raft launched from the Valencia on January 24th with Long and nine others. It was later recovered and brought back to Seattle and examined by inspectors investigating the Valencia disaster. It was tested in Seattle and they were able to get 22 men on it, however they found that even with 18 it was, "seriously crowded". Notice how little protection from the ocean and ocean waves it provided. Rafts were merely designed to float and resist flipping over.
Valencia's First Life Raft, the Turret Raft
11am Wed 24th Jan: Struggling Toward the Queen
An hour passed as they 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.
11am-3pm Wed 24th Jan: Cape Beale Lighthouse
With the hope of being rescued by a ship gone, they were now being pulled up the coast by the powerful current. They helplessly drifted into the abyss, soaked and freezing. Soon they spotted Cape Beale Lighthouse in the distance getting closer as they drifted towards it. As they got closer, they just had to row towards the rocky cliffs along the shore below the lighthouse and they would be saved. They steered toward the shore and pulled on the oars, but the current was too powerful and they drifted past.
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 were close to succumbing to the cold. Around this time the US navy man with the unknown name died of exposure. Reporter, R.P. Dunn, who interviewed Sam 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 Hancock for the incident, which suggests that Hancock pushed the man overboard.
5pm Wed 24th Jan: Adam Rolph Jumps Overboard and Drowns
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 Jumps Overboard and Drowns
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. George Long and Frank Connors were interviewed for a story that appeared in the Victoria Daily Times on 29 Jan 1906, where they talked about W. Wilson:
Before the raft passed Cape Beale a small island was seen, and an attempt was made to reach it, but this failed. Wilson, the third assistant engineer who plunged overboard before Turret Island was reached was attempting to make shore the survivors think. Fireman Long says he thinks it was Fricket Island that Wilson attempted to reach, but the rocky shores would prevent his being successful.
11pm Wed 24th Jan: Land on Turret Island
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 Sam 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 George Long, Sam Hancock, Max Stensler, and Frank 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.