My interest in seafaring adventures and tragedies was sparked very early in my life by a poem. I was given a book of poems, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and became captivated by his poem, The Wreck of the Hesperus. (I memorized it for life!). A few years later, I found the book, Kon-tiki, by Thor Heyerdahl, on the bookshelf in my dad’s study. And then as a young teenager, I discovered at the library, a trilogy of books about the Mutiny on the Bounty, written by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall. From that beginning, I am always drawn to a good seafaring story, and my most recent such read was Ship of Lost Souls, The Tragic Wreck of the Steamship Valencia, by Rod Scher.
This story is truly a tragedy in that everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong, and the people who boarded that ship in San Francisco, heading for Seattle in 1906, were doomed from the very beginning. But it is a fascinating tale of all the details that led to this tragedy — human error first and foremost, the lack of technology that could have averted the shipwreck altogether and that could have helped save more lives, and the changes that followed in the aftermath but too late to save these lost souls.
From the Author:
In January of 1906, off the coast of Vancouver Island, BC, almost everyone aboard the steamship Valencia died, including every single woman and child, when the vessel crashed into the jagged rocks just off of the island. Some 170+ souls perished within a couple hundred yards of land, and in spite of the fact that ships had been dispatched to rescue them. This is the story of that disaster, about who was at fault, and about the lessons we may or may not have learned from the tragedy.
Rod Scher
Rod Scher gives a riveting account in this book. His research for it was extensive and gives you a complete picture of the tragedy and the times. The photographs are fascinating in themselves, and the illustrations by the artist, Molly Dumas, are beautiful. Rod is currently on book tour for this book, and I was able to attend his book event at the Seaside Public Library this weekend. It was a lovely venue and a fascinating presentation. Molly Dumas, the artist who did the illustrations for the book, was also there and spoke about how she created those illustrations. It was a wonderful book experience overall!
Rod and his wife, Lesley, are our special friends. I met Lesley in 2007 through her book blog, Coastal Horizons, and we became online friends. My husband and I were finally able to meet Rod and Lesley in person during a trip we made to the Oregon Coast in January 2018. And for a number of years, Lesley and I were able to meet in person numerous times. Those enjoyable get-togethers were interrupted by the pandemic, so this weekend was a delightful reunion (and book celebration) after too many years.
In January, I also read the Newbery Award winning book of 1941, 
A Fondness For Reading 