The Valencia and the Lifesaving Trail

In January 1906 the SS Valencia broke up off Pachena Point — 136 people died, and Canada built a trail so it would never happen the same way again.

The wreck

The Valencia was a San Francisco–Seattle passenger steamer. In thick weather she struck a reef off Pachena Point. Lifeboats were launched against the captain's orders; nearly all of them failed. Of 173 people aboard, 136 died — every woman and child. Only 37 men survived.

The answer

The disaster shocked Ottawa into acting. Pachena Point Lighthouse was lit in 1908, and crews built a lifesaving trail with shelters and supply caches along the coast — the route now known as the West Coast Trail.

The lifeboat that came home

In 1933, twenty-seven years later, Valencia's lifeboat No. 5 was found drifting in Barkley Sound, still in good shape. Its nameplate is in the Maritime Museum of British Columbia in Victoria.

Pachena today

The trailhead beach. Hikers start or finish the 75-kilometre trek here; everyone else gets the beach day with the story underneath.

Timeline

1906: The Valencia is wrecked off Pachena Point. 136 dead.
1908: Pachena Point Lighthouse is lit.
1911: The lifesaving trail is completed.
Today: The 75km West Coast Trail starts here.