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SUMMARY:Nautical Nights: Dead Reckoning
URL:http://www.harbourliving.ca/event/nautical-nights-dead-reckoning90/
LOCATION:Online via Zoom :: 634 Humboldt St. Victoria, 
DESCRIPTION;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:Nautical Nights are back! This fall, join MMBC online for nights of riveting nautical stories, histories, and discussion presented by our volunteers and staff.=0D=0A=
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For the first Nautical Night of the season, Tyler Hooper will present his talk: "Dead Reckoning: The Sinking of the SS Valencia and the Creation of the West Coast Trail"=0D=0A=
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On Saturday, January 20, 1906, the steamship Valencia left Meiggs Wharf in San Francisco bound for Victoria then Seattle. But as the steamship made its way up the coast, Captain Oscar M. Johnson lost his bearings in the foggy and rainy abyss of the Graveyard of the Pacific. Just before midnight on January 22, 1906, the steamship Valencia ran aground, just a few hundred feet from the desolate coast of Vancouver Island.=0D=0A=
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For the next several days the breakers of the Pacific Ocean pounded the wrecked steamer, slowly crushing the ship and pulling its passengers to a watery grave. Of the 173 souls on board, only 37 would endure. No women or children survived the wreck.=0D=0A=
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Later, the press would call the government's inaction on improving life-saving stations along the coast "wholesale murder" and the sinking would force both the U.S. and Canadian government to re-address maritime safety on the west coast.=0D=0A=
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This is a story of protest, outrage, and change, as the sinking led to the creation of future life-saving devices on the west coast, including the now-famous West Coast Trail on Vancouver Island.=0D=0A=
The sinking of the Valencia encapsulates all the tragic archetypes of the human experience—hubris, tragedy, and heroics. ­Dead Reckoning is a presentation akin to the wreck of the Titanic in sheer horror, but ultimately showcases the endurance of the human spirit in times of disaster.=0D=0A=
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About the speaker: Tyler Hooper is a writer who resides in Victoria, B.C. He has a master's degree in history from the University of Waterloo and a passion for historical storytelling. He hopes to publish a book on the sinking of the SS Valencia and its importance in establishing life-saving measures along the west coast of Vancouver Island.=0D=0A=

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