Eugene Hopkins
Eugene Hopkins, assistant freight clerk on the Valencia was reported to be still on the ship when the last two rafts departed. He would have been cast into the sea just two hours later when the Valencia finally crumbled into the sea. The San Francisco Call on January 24th reported, “Eugene E. Hopkins, freight clerk of the Valencia made his home with his father and mother, Mr. and Mrs. J.S. Hopkins in Alameda, the family residence being at 2241 Clinton Avenue. He was unmarried and was widely known an popular in the Encinal City, where he attended the public schools and spent his boyhood days. Hopkins was 25 years of age and had been in the employ of the Pacific Coast Steamship Company for several years.” The Victoria Daily Colonist on January 26 reported, “The lottery of fate was played by two freight clerks on the Valencia, with their lives as the stakes. C.A. Metz left the vessel on her last trip to San Francisco, and Hopkins returned to the ship when she sailed for Seattle, and it was the first time he had been on duty aboard the Valencia since last October.”