128-year-old shipwreck on Vancouver Island charred by fire

A shipwreck that has been part of Vancouver Island's history for more than a century is a charred skeleton after a fire earlier this month.

Photographer Geoff Johnson said he went to look after hearing of the fire at the wreck that has been sitting on Big Beach in Ucluelet for almost 130 years.

"It was really dramatic," recalled Johnson in an interview, adding that the wooden wreckage seemed to be "more corpse-like now than it was before."

Ucluelet fire Chief Rick Geddes said crews attended the fire in the early morning of June 10 and the cause of the blaze is being investigated. 

The shipwreck suffered "significant damage" from the fire, although it's still very much intact, Geddes said. 

"It's not uncommon for us to get called to beach fires that have been abandoned overnight," said Geddes, "But it was somewhat uncommon for us to attend and have an issue with actual wreckage of this ship that's been on the beach for 100 plus years."

The history of the vessel, where it sailed from, and how it was stranded, has been lost. 

An information plaque set up next to the wreck says it's believe the ship was swept ashore by storms in 1896. 

The plaque says the ship was probably built somewhere on the northwest coast of the Americas in the mid- to late 1800s, based on its Douglas fir timber, wooden pegs and iron "drift-pin" fastenings.

There's no name, no destination and no hint if it was intentionally grounded and disassembled to build houses, or if it was a victim of a storm, Johnson said about the history of the vessel, which is just a block from his home. 

"So, that's part of the interesting story, is that anybody you know can make up what they think the story that shipwreck was about, and it makes it a little bit more of a romantic thing to sit there and look at and think about."

Johnson said he's grown to love the beachside artifact and it was "gut-wrenching" to see in burned.

He would use it as a seat to take sunset photos and sitting there felt like hanging out with a "friend who had just been in a bad accident," he said. 

The West Coast of Vancouver Island has been called the "Graveyard of the Pacific" for its long history of storms bringing ships into the rocky shores. 

In 1906, the SS Valencia en route to Victoria from San Francisco, struck a reef off Vancouver Island, killing 136 people. It is one of the deadliest shipwrecks in B.C.'s history.

Anya Zanko, events and development manager with Maritime Museum of BC, said the tragedy spurred public outrage, and led to the construction of a telegraph line and trail along Vancouver Island's coast.

The Dominion Lifesaving Trail was taken over by the Pacific Rim Park Reserve in 1973 and was renamed the West Coast Trail, Zanko said. 

The trail is now a popular hiking destination. 

Geddes said they want people to enjoy the beauty of the beach, but it's important that people are also responsible and ensure their fires are out before leaving the beach. 

Johnson said the shipwreck is now more than a reminder of the treacherous storms in the region. 

"And the idea that somebody might have started this fire, and it could easily spread a block to my home, is really the lesson." 

The fire chief said it's unclear what caused the fire, although they aren't aware of any lightning strikes in the area around that time. 

Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Geoff Johnson