THE VALENTIA TRAGEDY, The Most Shameful Incident in Canadian Maritime History, by Michael C. Neitzel (1990 1st Ed.)

Author: Michael C. Neitzel. Published by Heritage House Publishing, Surrey, BC., 1995, 1st Edition. Printed in Canada. Like New Condition SOFTCOVER Book. Clean inside, tight spine. Size: 8.5 x 5.5 inch, 112 pages including index. 

THE VALENTIA TRAGEDY, The Most Shameful Incident in Canadian Maritime History, by Michael C. Neitzel (1990 1st Ed.) is the story of the most appalling display of bad luck, incompetence, negligence and lack of compassion ever recorded in Canadian maritime history.

The most shameful incident in Canadian Maritime history" occurred in January 1906 when the steamer Valencia hit rocks off the treacherous west coast of Vancouver Island, only 100 feet from shore. Over the next 40 hours the vessel was pounded to pieces. More than 80 people, many of them women and children, drowned. Men watching from the shore offered no assistance, and three potential rescue vessels sailed away. 

"The steamship met her fate through a navigational error while en route from San Francisco to Victoria and Seattle. She struck a rocky outcrop, and then drifted toward the cliffs a few miles from Cape Beale. Three rescue ships turned away (without making a serious attempt to assist anyone), leaving dozens of people to die. Details of the final voyage and the subsequent investigations have been thoroughly researched and skilfully organized. Accompanying the text are more than 40 photographs of varying quality. The author is to be commended for recreating a tragedy that too few people know about.'          -Reviewed by Gordon Turner, CBRA.

ISBN: 9781895811368  

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