John Finley
John Finley, misspelled Fernie in most newspapers, was a second class passenger on leave from the US navy on his way to Victoria. United States navy records list him as Ordinary Seaman John Finley drowned when the Merchant ship SS Valencia wrecked on the west coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, along with four other navy personnel on 23 January 1906.
The misspelling caused a lot of confusion due to another J. Fernie, a somewhat prominent person in British Columbia was mistakenly reported as dead on the Valencia. When J. Fernie was reported alive and well, there was a scramble by the Victoria newspapers to correctly identify this man, which they appear to have never done. The Victoria Daily times on 24 January, 1906 wrote, “The identity of J. Fernie, bound for Victoria is not known. W. Fernie, of this city, says he knows of no relative of that initial. A traveler by the name of Fernie, representing a Montreal firm, occasionally visits the coast, and it is thought the passenger on the Valencia may be this traveler.” John Finley’s body was never recovered.