McCarthy Album 08, Photograph 100

Item

Title: McCarthy Album 08, Photograph 100
Description: Caption: "Rescue of Life Raft from Wrecked Steamer Valencia." Photograph showing a boat crew about to rescue 18 people on a life raft. On Monday, January 22, 1906, the passenger liner Valencia ran aground on a reef during a storm off the southwestern coast of Vancouver Island (an area notorious for ship wrecks). Although the shore was only about fifty yards away, heavy seas and rock cliffs prevented the passengers and crew from making their way safely to land. Circumstances prevented rescue vessels from coming to the stricken ship's aid until Wednesday January 24th. The steamship City of Topeka rescued 18 men on a life raft, shown in this photograph. The official death toll was 136: seven officers, 33 crewmen, and 96 passengers (including seventeen women and eleven children -- all of the women and children on board perished). Only 37 people survived the wreck.
Contributor: Audrey Fullerton-Samora of Sacramento, great niece of William and Grace McCarthy, donated the William M. McCarthy Photograph Collection to the California State Archives in 1996.
Coverage: Vancouver Island, British Columbia
Date: 1/24/1906
Format: JPEG, scanned at 400 DPI, 24-bit color
Identifier: 96-07-08-alb08-100
Language: English
Publisher: California State Archives, a division of the California Secretary of State's Office
Source: Image of an item within the William M. McCarthy Photograph Collection (96-07-08)
Subject: Rescue of a Life Raft from the SS Valencia
Type: Still Image

Item sets: William M. McCarthy Photograph Collection

Media: 96-07-08-alb08-100.jpg