Beneath Waves and Shadows: The Sinking of the Steamship Valencia

With the suspense of a thriller and the emotional depth of human drama, Beneath Waves and Shadows is the untold, meticulously researched story of survival after a 1906 shipwreck in the Pacific Northwest.

On a mild January day in 1906, the Valencia steamed out of San Francisco and began the four-day voyage to Seattle. Though it was a routine journey, the crew was well aware of the dangers of sailing along the west coast of Vancouver Island, an area known as the "Graveyard of the Pacific", a place of violent storms, dense fog, rocky shoals, and fearsome currents.

The Valencia’s captain, Oscar Marcus Johnson, was an experienced mariner, but on the third day at sea, he lost his bearing in the increasingly thick winter weather. The vessel’s hull was ripped apart on Vancouver Island’s rocky shore, setting in motion a multiday struggle for survival that revealed both the sea’s terrible power and the remarkable bravery of passengers, crew, and rescuers alike.

Of the approximately 165 souls who left San Francisco, fewer than 40 would survive.

Hooper spent more than a decade immersed in the story of the Valencia. He hiked the same wild stretches of Vancouver Island coastline where the tragedy unfolded in 1906 and combed through thousands of pages of letters, newspapers, and official reports. Drawing from survivor testimonies, and a powerful interview with one of the survivors' descendants, Hooper brings to life a deeply human story of courage, chaos and survival at sea.