The Titanic of the West
The S.S. Valencia sails to disaster in the Graveyard of the Pacific
The Pacific Ocean does not tolerate incompetence; it destroys it.
Nowhere is that maxim more frequently proven than in the waters that strain against the southwestern rim of Canada’s Vancouver Island. Here, along a hundred miles of desolate, reef-riddled coastline, lies the infamous “Graveyard of the Pacific,” a zone that has consumed hundreds of ships over the centuries. The wind-whipped island stands on the receiving end of long waves that cross from Asia to smash against its sheer, basalt cliffs, violent storms howl south from Alaska to scour the waters, and dense fogs that blind ships hunting for safe passage.
The Graveyard is one of the most dangerous places in the entire Pacific ocean.
And it was waiting for the Steamship Valencia.
San Francisco, January 20, 1906. A frosty morning sheen slicked the wooden boardwalk, ice crystals catching and refracting light from the rising sun. Baleful gulls scavenged for breakfast, early morning walkers took careful steps along the Embarcadero.
As the thin winter sun warmed the sleeping city, a puff of black smoke blossomed from the single funnel of the S. S. Valencia. Harbor buoys shook their bells in a doleful refrain…
