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With water rising in the hold, the fire rooms began to
flood by late morning. Further fuelling of the fires became impossible. At noon
the fire under the starboard boiler went out, and, with steam pressure lost,
the starboard engine and paddlewheel stopped turning. Despite Herculean efforts
by the coal tenders, at about three o'clock, the fire and engines on the port
side also failed. With no power left, the Central American began to wallow
helplessly in the sea. The ship was listing badly. If any passenger still
harbored illusions about their safety, these were violently dispelled when, as
Addie Easton noted, "the vessel suddenly careened to one side and, looking
toward our porthole, I notice that it was entirely under water.
Commander Herndon now ordered all the men on board-passengers and crew
alike-to assist in bailing the ship. While the men worked, most of the women
huddled on the port side of the main cabin, bracing themselves by holding on to
the furniture.
September 12 brought mixed feelings of relief and
dread. Judge Monson recalled that shortly after daybreak, the clouds cleared
away somewhat, and the passengers and crew were greatly encouraged. The ship's
captain, however, knew better. Herndon strove to avoid panic, but the severity
of the situation was now growing obvious.
 " In the course of the day on Saturday it was known by all that
the ship was in a sinking condition," recalled Barney Lee. But then, at about
noon, a glimmer of hope appeared on the horizon as a brig drew toward the
sinking steamship. It was the Marine, of Boston, commanded by Captain Hiram
Burt, who brought his vessel close under their stern. The Marine, however, was
lighter than the Central America, and immediately began to drift downwind,
farther and farther away from the distressed vessel. Despite the increasing
distance between the two ships, Commander Herndon was determined to save all
women and children and ordered the lifeboats launched. The heaving seas
immediately swamped two of them, rendering them useless. With great difficulty,
the women and older children were lowered by ropes from the Central America's
deck onto the remaining three lifeboats.
However reluctant they may
have been to be separated from their husbands, all the women were transferred
to the lifeboats. And all the 29 children aboard were saved except one, a
Peruvian boy named Adolphe Oliagne, who may have refused to leave his
21-year-old brother, also on board.
The trip from the Central America
to the Marine through mountainous waves was slow and difficult. Moreover, the
two ships had drifted two or three miles apart. "It was fully two hours and a
half before we got to the Marine," remembered Angeline Bowley.
Transferring from lifeboats to the marine was perilous in the raging seas.
The Central America's stewardess, pinned between the lifeboat and the brig's
hull when the two crashed together, was severely injured and died the following
day. Once safely on board the rescue ship, the rescued women gazed anxiously
back toward the steamship Central America. "About four o'clock the fog cleared
away," remembered Ada Hawley, "and we saw the steamer very distinctly against
the sunset clouds; she looked beautiful, and did not seem at all like a sinking
ship."
Back on board the steamer men awaited the lifeboats that
returned for them after the women and children were safe. Captain Herndon's
orders that all ladies and children should board lifeboats were obeyed to the
letter. "The utmost coolness and self-control" had prevailed when the women and
children were being transferred, recalled Frank Jones. Not a man attempted to
get into the boats. But after the women and children reached safety, he added,
it was every man for himself. "When the boats returned… the men would
throw themselves overboard like sheep, filling them in an instant.
At
about 6:30 PM there was reason for new hope. Another vessel, the schooner El
Dorado of New York, appeared and sailed to within hailing distance of the
Central America. But because it had only one very small lifeboat, the schooner
was unable to take off any passengers and gradually drifted out of sight of the
sinking steamer. |
