Adding to the crew’s woes, the hull developed a leak the engineer couldn’t trace. As water poured into the bilge, the vessel began to list to starboard, rendering the paddle wheels ineffectual. With the loss of power, the Central America was at the mercy of the waves.
(Shipwreck of royal ‘party boat’ revealed)
By the morning of September 11, the crew was busy fighting a round-the-clock battle that would ultimately involve every man on board forming a bucket brigade to keep the sinking ship afloat long enough to attract the attention of a passing vessel. The well-to-do Ansel Easton pitched in, taking off his coat, kissing his new wife, and heading below to do his duty.
The following afternoon a two-masted brig, the Marine, itself damaged in the storm, spotted the Central America’s distress signal and fought its way to the doomed ship. Captain Herndon had lifeboats lowered and managed to transfer all the women and children to the Marine, a terrifying ordeal for all involved. Adeline Easton initially refused to leave her husband but was persuaded when he assured her that he’d be on the next boat. He wasn’t. Conditions were far too dangerous to continue the operation. As dusk fell that evening, and to the horror of those watching, the Central America sank with the loss of 425 men. Herndon was last seen standing by the rail on the wheelhouse, cap in hand, his head bowed, as his ship went down.
Over the next several hours some lucky survivors were plucked from the sea, among them Ansel, who was reunited with Adeline a week later at the National Hotel in Norfolk, Virginia. “Great joy is too deep for words,” she wrote. “Kindness loaded us with everything we needed. One lady insisted on presenting us with a trunk. I laughingly told her I didn’t have a thing to put in it.”