Global attention after 1918 shipwreck was on end of WW I and Spanish flu epidemic, but annual memorial and other tributes recall victims of West Coast’s worst marine disaster.

Those gathering include a relative of a passenger from the 1918 sinking and a historian who has made 200 dives at the shipwreck site.

Steamship’s ability to use lifeboats was limited after striking reef and severe storm kept rescue ships from providing help. Part two of a three-part series.