The wreck of the SS Valencia
The passenger liner SS Valencia grounded on a reef off Vancouver Island's southwest coast on 22 January 1906, and scores of people drowned.
HistoryLink.org says the coastal liner SS Valencia was sailing on the San Francisco to Seattle run on Monday, 22 January 1906, with a crew of 65 and 108 passengers. In foul weather it went by the opening of the Juan de Fuca Strait and grounded on Vancouver Island's southwest coast. It sat on a reef between sheer cliffs and pounding breakers, and rescue vessels were unable to approach from the sea. Many passengers drowned after their lifeboats were smashed or overturned in the surf.
Wikipedia gives more detail on the navigation. The crew lacked celestial observations and relied on dead reckoning, and with strong winds and currents the ship missed the strait. It hit a reef 18 km (11 miles) from Cape Beale shortly before midnight on 22 January.
A 2023 Daily Hive article places the loss in waters nicknamed the Pacific's graveyard, and says the ship is said to sail there still.
"Unable to make celestial observations, the ship's crew was forced to rely on dead reckoning to determine their position. Out of sight of land, and with strong winds and currents, Valencia missed the entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Shortly before midnight on 22 January, she struck a reef 11 miles (18 km) off Cape Beale on the southwest coast of Vancouver Island.[18]"
- Valencia, SS, the Wreck of (1906), HistoryLink.org (Daryl C. McClary, 2005)
- The SS Valencia: A BC ghost ship story, Daily Hive (2023)