The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-04-15
BLAME FOR VALENCIA WRECK,
ROOSEVELT COMMISSION DISCOV'
Frs A LACK OF HEROES.

nnRA .NUL Sltoh
TWO Canadian shippers Because They
Are British Subjects, but 1t Thereby
Leaves a Large Blank in Its Report.
shortly after the wreck Of the steamer
yalencia, which went down at the entrance
20 Puget Sound on January 81 last, the
President appointed a commission to look
into the matter and report on the RESPONSE
hiHtv for the loss of life. 1t will be re-
Numbered that out Of 173 passengers n
nenbers of the crew l38 were lost, and
that certain actions OF those sent out to
raso,Ie the stranded vessel certainly dis
rlaved no heroism." This Is tho language
Of tho commission, whose report Is now in.
In brief, the Valencia was lost in a deep
TOO off Vancouver Island. The captain
had lost his reckoning and, upon turning
In TO enter the Sound, as he supposed,
str,lck first a rock upon which his vessel
hung until she had been lightened, and
than, when he attempted to beach her, he
hookrd M against a line of cliffs. This
hsppened at midnight. For about two
DAYS the vessel hung there, through va
nous misfortunes, with wrecked lfeboats
and Messengers spilled into the sea; and
then finally she broke up, drowning most Of
the survivors, who had been clinging to
the rigging and the upper works. On the
last day four vessels, two American and
two Canadian, stood within speaking dis
lance, but for various reasons, mainly,
dol btless, the absence Of a Capt. Casio,
no boat was sent to the valencia ana no
launching was ATTEMPTED.
The whole tale, in fact, is an appalling
sere, OF -ifs." II some of the telegraph
lines had not been down several ocean
going tugs lying at Neahbay, twenty miles
from the scene Of the wreck, might have
been notified and sent on. If the captain
OF the steamer Queen had thought he
might nave turned aside on his way
down the coast and with the loss of an
hour or two notified these tugs, which
would nave lone effective work. Ii the
csptain OF the Queen hadn't been cautious
he might have dared launch a ifeboat
instead Of waiting for the sea to go down.
At the time Of the final breaking up W
little ~lferafts not only lived In that sea, but
managed to shoot the breakers. When the
steamer Topeka arrived the two captains,
after a consultation, decided to send the
Queen back, "as she was not needed But
the Queen knew where the wreck was,
while the Topeka lost the bearings almost
at once. And when the weather cleared
there was no wreck in sight, for the Valencia
had gone 10 pieces. Then there were two
Canadian steamers which hove to within
sight of the wreck. Their captains took a
look and reported to the Americans that
there were no survivors on that wreck;
whereupon they e on toward British
Columbia. At that time nearly. 100 men,
women and children were crowded on the
superstructure, oheered by the sight OF
ships lying by to rescue them.
Mnat haartrandiDQ irollmatanOa of all.
the remaining hundred might have been
saved had not line of the survivors turned
to the right rather than to the left. For
these men had made 1t through the breakers
first attempt at launching. Had they
travelled along the cliffs which ran above
the Valencia they might have seen their
chance to catch a line from the lin firing
gun which she carried. There were nine
Of them, enough to lave established con-
nection for the brooches buoy. and the
distance from the topmasts to the top Of
the cliffs was not more h $50 feet: They
did not turn that way and when, later in
the day, the Valencia shot her line in des-
~peration, there was no one on shore to make
Il fast, the nine men having travelled on
to reach a telegraph wire.
These are only a few of the strange cir
oumstanoes which conspired to make what
might nave been a minor wreck a world
horror. The commission goes into all
these things in its recommendations.
In the first place, it finds that Capt. John
son, in command, was primarily responsible
through his carelessness. He was going
by dead reckoning and he gave it as his
about 8 per cent. ahead" AS a matter OF
fact, the log was running behind, If any
thing, In other ways, as the commission
shows in detail, his navigation wa care
less. He lost his life in the disaster.
The Pacific Coast Steamship Company
owning the vasSal. ia eXOnaratad. aa ara
the Government inspectors. 1t was proved
that the vessel had been regularly inspected,
that she had fulfilled all the tests n that
when the moment of strain came she lived
up TO the tests in all but one or two minor
particulars. There was no panic either
among the passengers or crew, but there
was considerable stupidity among the
officers, and to this is attributed the loss
Of W or three Of the boats.
Regarding the action OF the dian
skippers. the commission expressly refuses
To place itself on record, since these two
men are citizens Of another nation, but
it states all the facts. After reviewing the
actions Of the captains of the Queen and
Topeka, American vessels, the commits
sion adds:
'on this point the commission desires
10 express no opinion, but ID compelled
70 observe that there was certainly no dis
play OF the heroic daring that has often
merchant marine.'
Finally it devoted a whole chapter to
the things which ought to be done to render
that part Of the Pacific coast safer. At
present it is dangerous and very made
quately protected. There was not a life
saving station within ITO miles Of the point
where the Valencia struck.
lhe commission consisted OF Lawrence
Q. Murray, Assistant Secretary Of Com
rerce and Labor; Capt. WilliamT I. Burwell,
Somn4andant of the Puget Sound Navy
yard, and Herbert Knox Smith, Deputy
Commissioner Of Corporations.