was a soul on board. Most of the women and children reached safety on the Marine. Herndon's concern for his passengers and crew helped save 152 of the 575 people on board. Men on the Central America tried to break up wooden parts to use as floats, in hopes of surviving the sinking. Some were rescued later by passing vessels, but most of the 423 persons on board died in what was the largest loss of life for a commercial ship in United States history. Survivors of the disaster reported last seeing Commander Herndon in full uniform, standing by the wheelhouse with his hand on the rail, hat off and in his hand, with his head bowed in prayer as the ship gave a lurch and went down. The ship disaster and loss of so much gold, which banks still depended on, contributed to the financial Panic of 1857 in the United States. The wreckage of the ship was discovered in a 1987 treasure recovery expedition. Legacy Herndon's memory has been honored in various ways: His brother officers erected the Herndon Monument in his honor at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, in 1860. Central America′s ship's bell, discovered in her wreck in 1988, was offered to the Academy as a gift in August 2021, positioned next to the monument, and dedicated in a ceremony on May 23, 2022. The U.S. Navy has named two ships in his honor. The towns of Herndon, Virginia, and Herndon, Pennsylvania, are named for him. Notes References Further reading Kinder, Gary, Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea, Boston: Atlantic Monthly, Inc. 1998. Ship of Gold web site Normand Klare, Final Voyage of the 'SS Central America' External links USS Herndon , Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships Website 1813 births 1857 deaths 19th-century explorers 19th-century American writers American non-fiction writers American explorers Military personnel from Fredericksburg, Virginia United States Navy officers Deaths in tropical cyclones Explorers of Amazonia Captains who went down with the ship