Thursday, September 10, 1857
"On Thursday it blew a perfect hurricane and the sea ran mountains
high. . . ."—Thomas W. Badger, Ship Captain "Jane
A. Falkinberg," Oakland, CA (Baltimore, MD)—1st Cabin
Friday, September 11, 1857
"About noon on Friday, the vessel suddenly careened to one
side and, looking toward our porthole, I noticed that it was entirely under
water."—Adeline Mills Easton, wealthy honeymooner,
San Francisco—1st Cabin
"All hands, passengers and crew, were ordered to go to work bailing, as none of the steam pumps would work. All of us knew how desperate was our situation, and every one worked with a will."—Frank Jones, Kentucky planter, Sacramento—1st Cabin
"On
Friday the sea broke over us in avalanches, completely swamping the cabin
and staterooms, and the vessel would be so completely buried that it was as
dark as Erebus." —Virginia Birch, wife of an entertainer,
San Francisco—1st Cabin
Saturday, September 12, 1857
"The brig Marine was hailed by Captain Herndon. The
captain of the brig said that he would do for us all that he could, and brought
his vessel close under our stern."—Virginia Birch,
wife of an entertainer, San Francisco—1st Cabin
"The dangerous, heroic and almost superhuman effort in transferring the women and children safely to the brig Marine can scarcely have a parallel."—Obed Harvey, physician, Placerville, CA—1st Cabin
"About 8 o’clock, just previous to the ship’s going down, and as we all stood forward, I said to the men, ‘There will never be as many die again as coolly Boys, let us all die like true Californians.’ "—William Fletcher, miner—became Captain of Police of Oakland (Bloomfield, ME)—Steerage
"A great many of the passengers were miners, having considerable sums of gold among them, the product of years of toil; but the love of gold was forgotten in the anxiety and terror of the moment, and many a man unbuckled his gold stuffed belt and flung his hard earned treasure upon the deck."—William Chase, miner Washtenaw County, MI—Steerage
"Now the vessel gave three lurches. Those who jumped off at the first and second lurches swam off to some distance. But the great mass remained on deck until the vessel went down."—Oliver P. Manlove, miner, Grant County, WI—Steerage
"When the vessel sunk we went down with her and a good way down. When I came up there were hundreds of human heads floating all around me."—Henry R. O’Connor, 17 printer/typesetter, Albany, NY—Steerage
Sunday, September 13, 1857
"We discovered the rigging of a vessel at a distance, and
taking renewed courage . . . we soon reached the Norwegian bark Ellen.
A rope was thrown to me, and having been drawn to near the top vessel . .
. I fell three times into the water—twice going under the vessel. Finally
a ship’s ladder was thrown out, to which, as the last desperate effort,
I tangled myself into in some way, and was taken on board."—Obed
Harvey, physician, Placerville, CA—1st Cabin
"[The Ellen’s captain] continued his search among the drift wood, tacking backward and forward, but did not find anyone after 9 o’clock in the morning, and consequently relinquished the search at noon."—Thomas W. Badger, Ship Captain "Jane A. Falkinberg," Oakland, CA (Baltimore, MD)—1st Cabin
"Forty-nine of the passengers were picked up floating on the water that night and the next morning by the Norwegian bark Ellen. Total saved, 152."—Statement by Lt. Matthew Fontaine Maury, USN
Monday, October 5, 1857
"The city was startled . . . by the apparition of three more
men rescued from the Steamer Central America. They came looking almost
like skeletons, gaunt, sick, exhausted. They were found drifting in one of
the streamer’s life-boats, some 476 miles northeast of the spot where
the Central America went down, and nine days after that sad affair."—The
New York Times
From Story of an American Tragedy: Survivor’s Accounts of the Sinking of the Steamship Central America, published by Columbus-America Discovery Group, 1988.
Read excerpts from the book:
Thompson's interest in exploration
The Gold Rush
The Search for the U.S.S. Central America
Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea by Gary Kinder
Copyright © 1998 Gary Kinder
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.
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