The monument is installed west of Brockton Point in Vancouver, British Columbia.

The 18.1-metre (59.3 ft) wooden steam ship Chehalis, owned by the Union S.S. Company of Vancouver, sank at about 2 p.m. July 21, 1906, killing 8 of the 15 people on board, following a collision with the Canadian Pacific Railway's Princess Victoria, a 91-metre (300 ft) steam ship.

The seven survivors were rescued by the keeper of the nearby Brockton Point lighthouse.

[2] The Chehalis had been chartered to carry passengers to British Columbia's north coast and had just embarked from North Vancouver in fine weather, passing Brockton Point while heading out of Burrard Inlet.

The Princess Victoria embarked from the Canadian Pacific Railway dock in Vancouver carrying 219 passengers.