SS Valencia

SS Valencia in 1904
History
United States
NameValencia
NamesakeValencia, Venezuela
Owner
Operator
  • Red D Line Red D Line
  • 1882–1897; 1897–1898
  • Ward Line Ward Line
  • 1897
  • Pacific Steam Whaling Company
  • 1898; 1898–1901
  • United States United States Army
  • 1898
  • Pacific Coast Steamship Company Pacific Coast Steamship Company
  • 1901–1906
Port of registryUnited States San Francisco, California, United States[6]
Route
BuilderWilliam Cramp & Sons, Philadelphia
Yard number228[8]
Launched11 March 1882
Maiden voyageMay 1882[7]
In service1882–1906
Out of service22 January 1906
FateWrecked on 22 January 1906
NotesRan aground near Pachena Point on Vancouver Island
General characteristics
TypeOcean liner/coastal passenger liner
Tonnage1,598 Tons (originally 1,200 Tons)[7]
Length252 ft (77 m)[5]
Beam34 ft (10 m)[5]
NotesCarried six lifeboats, one workboat, four life rafts and one dual purpose workboat. Also equipped with a lyle gun. A 100 ft (30 m) long bow gave the Valencia the false appearance of a fast vessel. It also reduced visibility during fog, as the ship was originally designed for east coast service.[5] She was the sister ship to the Caracas.[4]

SS Valencia was an iron-hulled passenger steamer built for the Red D Line for service between Venezuela and New York City. She was built in 1882 by William Cramp and Sons, one year after the construction of her sister ship Caracas.[7] She was a 1,598-ton vessel (originally 1,200 tons),[7] 252 feet (77 m) in length.[5] In 1897, Valencia was deliberately attacked by the Spanish cruiser Reina Mercedes off Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The next year, she became a coastal passenger liner on the U.S. West Coast[5] and served periodically in the Spanish–American War as a troopship to the Philippines.[2] Valencia was wrecked off Cape Beale, which is near Clo-oose, on the west coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, on 22 January 1906.[9] As her sinking killed 100 people (including all of the women and children aboard), some classify the wreck of Valencia as the worst maritime disaster in the "Graveyard of the Pacific", a famously treacherous area off the southwest coast of Vancouver Island.[10]

  1. ^ Colton, Tim (27 May 2010). "Cramp Shipbuilding, Philadelphia". Shipbuilding History: Construction records of U.S. and Canadian shipbuilders and boatbuilders. Archived from the original on 5 October 2013. Retrieved 8 September 2013.
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference SpanAmWar was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ (Steamship), Valencia (1901). John G. Grismore, Et Al, Libelant, Vs. Steamship "Valencia", Respondent, Pacific Steam Whaling Company Claimant. Retrieved 9 September 2013.
  4. ^ a b "Gold-Carriers in Demand". San Francisco Call. Vol. 83, no. 25. California Digital Newspaper Collection. 25 December 1897. p. 9. Retrieved 9 September 2013.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Belyk, Robert C. Great Shipwrecks of the Pacific Coast. New York: Wiley, 2001. ISBN 0-471-38420-8
  6. ^ "Photo# NH 82635 Troops on a transport". Retrieved 29 August 2013.
  7. ^ a b c d e Preble, George H. (1895). A Chronological History of the Origin and Development of Steam Navigation. L.R. Hamersly & Company. pp. 398.
  8. ^ "William Cramp & Sons Shipbuilders". Shipbuilding History. Archived from the original on 20 December 2014. Retrieved 8 October 2013.
  9. ^ "Many lives lost... ...Severe Gale Still in Progress", Los Angeles Herald, Volume 33, Number 115, 24 January 1906 (Associated Press), accessed 22 January 2023
  10. ^ Paterson, T. W. (1967). British Columbia Shipwrecks. Langley, BC: Stagecoach Publishing. pp. 72–76. Archived from the original on 12 January 2006. Retrieved 26 August 2006.