The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1906-04-21
VALENCIA REPORT
ort,cIAl VIEW OF THE DISASTER
IS MADE PUBLIC.
,;.s;on Cannot Explain Fail
IRE of Queen and Others to
,.,-oach Wrecked Steamer.
p.scue Work Badly Planned
and Bungled in Execution.

and Bungled IN Execution.
Washington, April 16.-The depart
- commerce has made public
u me- rorort of the special Valencia COM
'D ION which held an Investigation
ni.'', .ba valencia disaster last Febru-
ln.' holding its sessions at Seattle.
Tl,, report, consists OF 90 printed
inv oo and exhaustively reviews the
pas sinony and findings of the commits
tsn A feature of the report Is Its
o~aro censure of the Pacific Coast
49, Snonv which owned the steamer.
U ~ brunt of the blame, however, Is
.hroun on Capt. Johnson, who per-
ished in the wreck.
'' Si,tv witnesses we're examined, their
'.;ao,v covering 1850 typewriter
GOES Though the commission was
p lu;3bont mower to compel the attend
WOO ., witnesses and had no funds
With which to remunerate them. SUD
a.an+iallv all the survivors of the
-roeb were examined, except q Few
who had gone to distant points before
the inquiry began. In addition a large
number of master mariners and mem
hers Of the crews of vessels wnlcn
vent to the Valencia's aid we're put
ON the stand. These facts and otner
preliminary matters are set forth In
the first chapter of the report.
The second chapter deals with the
Valencia and her owner, the Pacific
Coast Company, and the operating
cornoration. the Pacific Coast Steam
ship Company. On her last voyage the
Valencia took out fir m San Francisco
46 first and So second class passengers
and crew of IS, rs near as could be
sscertained. There were II women
and few children aboard. Says the
report:
Total Death List 1876.
OF the total officers and crew of 65.
40 we're lost and 25 saved. Of the
total passenger list of 1903, 50 were
lost and 10 saved. The ratio of pas
sengers lost to the number of passen-
gers was therefore SO per cent, and of
crew lost to number of crew 81 per
cent.
The total percentage of lost to saved
was IS. All the women and children
persisted. (:
Chapter three gives a brief descrip-
ton of the voyage, the points empha-
sized being that Capt. johnson sight
ed no land after passing Cape Mendi-
elmo, 1870 miles north of San Francis
co, until just before the vessel struck.
The weather being hazy he sighted no
lights and heard no fog signals and
naVigated by compass and dead reck-
oning, thereby missing the entrance
to the straits Of Juan de Fuca and
plling his vessel up on the southwest
coast of Vancouver island. on the
night of January %.
Here, where she was beached to
avoid sinking in deep water, the Va
lencia lay until about l O'Clock in the
afternoon of the following Wednesday,
when she went to pieces, drowning all
then On board. The scene of the trag-
edy was at the foot of virtually con-
anaous rock cliff, rising sheer from
the water and beaten by a heavy surf,
aoout midway between Cape Beale and
oarmanah light. The spot is nearly
Ten miles from any white settlement.
Captains Fatal Mistake.
uoing into the details of the story of
we voyage as told by Second Officer
PETERSON, the only surviving deck off,
vef, the commission states that Capt.
'onnsons fatal mistake was his as
sumption that his log had overrun
aOout per cent, contributing causes
VI tne disaster being his lack of infor-
ma'lon concerning the winter currents
VI Tue ocean off the coast and his fail
ute to heed unmistakable warnings
gwen oy the soundings when he was
I "a about trying to pick up the
0m nS Reef lightship.
III Inc report further says that the
..uuoAout, or station man, on duty at
s .us DOW of the ship, was probably
asieep' as he gave no warning Of the
ap"oach of land and did not call out
~ oil, 1t appears, however, that
,a'oogn a wholly, improper arrange
a n'a' OF watches this lookout had been
ans uuty since s o'clock that evening,
~, ,Iu mad been there nearly six hours at
''e g. 'ime the vessel struck.
,o, unapter four deals with the events
~, ,ua0~ing the striking Of the vessel
cau PRIOR to the arrival Of the 60
b ba.,eo rescue feet. Captain johnson
;n oeached the vessel stern-on, with
p D. .uo feet of the base Of the cliffs.
tha. y summarized, the report saye
hoo. oaps. Johnson's failure to hold
n 'as orlil on the way up the coast led
vo sraet loss of life when the boats
were lowered. !
49, Inc fifth chapter is devoted to the
rns npts at rescue by the Pacific Coast
10 upanys steamers Queen and Tope-
Co. ano the two Canadian tugs, the
,fsa ana salvor. In this chapter the
-. s OF the Pacific Coast Company
ioh. azure to secure seagoing tug Of
Ionn M. uraft at Neah bay, after they had
IT, hone available at Seattle.
ona ae iack of effort on the part Of the
and n ana Topeka and the tugs Czaz
icizo savior are also very severely crit
A1Cu, And IL - ~ -l