William Lewis Herndon Commander William Lewis Herndon ( 25 October 1813 – 12 September 1857 ) was one of the United States Navy ' s outstanding explorers and seamen . In 1851 he led a United States expedition to the Valley of the Amazon , and prepared a report published in 1854 and distributed widely as " Exploration of the Valley of the Amazon . " He was noted especially for ensuring the rescue of 152 women and children when commanding the commercial mail steamer " Central America " in September 1857 . During a three - day hurricane off the coast of North Carolina , the ship lost power . Herndon arranged for getting some women and children safely off the ship to another vessel . With no way to save the ship , Herndon chose to stay with more than 400 passengers and crew who drowned as the ship sank off Cape Hatteras on September 12 . It was the largest loss of life in a commercial ship disaster in United States history . Two years later his daughter Ellen Lewis Herndon married Chester A . Arthur , the future U . S . President . Early life and marriage . William Lewis Herndon was born in Fredericksburg , Virginia . He married Frances Elizabeth Hansborough and they had a daughter Ellen Lewis Herndon , born in Culpeper Court House , Virginia . Naval service . Herndon was appointed midshipman on 1 November 1828 . He was promoted to passed midshipman in 1834 and lieutenant in 1841 . He cruised in Pacific , South American , Mediterranean , and Gulf waters from then until 1842 . From 1842 to 1846 , Herndon served in the Depot of Charts and Instruments of the US Naval Observatory with his first cousin and brother - in - law , Matthew Fontaine Maury . They prepared oceanographic charts and performing other scientific work invaluable to the safe and accurate navigation of the seas . During the Mexican - American War , Herndon commanded the brig " Iris " with distinction . Exploration of the Amazon . In 1851 Herndon headed an expedition exploring the Valley of the Amazon , a vast area uncharted by Europeans , although inhabited for thousands of years by numerous tribes of indigenous peoples . The purpose of the expedition was to ascertain the commercial resources and potential of the valley . Departing Lima , Peru , 21 May 1851 , Herndon , in the company of Lieutenant Lardner Gibbon and five other men , pressed into the jungles . After crossing the Cordilleras , Gibbon separated to explore the Bolivian tributaries of the Amazon while Herndon continued to explore the main trunk . After a journey of 4 , 366 miles , which took him through the wilderness from sea level to heights of 16 , 199 feet , Herndon reached the city of Pará , Brazil on 11 April 1852 . On 26 January 1853 , Herndon submitted an encyclopedic and illustrated 414 - page report to the Secretary of the Navy John P . Kennedy . The report was published by the Navy in 1854 as " Exploration of the Valley of the Amazon " . The Navy ordered " 10 , 000 additional copies be printed for the use of the Senate . " It was extensively circulated , and cited in works on ethnology and natural history . SS " Central America " . After two years of active service on " Potomac " and " San Jacinto " , Herndon was assigned in 1855 as commander of the Atlantic Mail Steamship Company steamer SS " Central America " , on the New York to Aspinwall , Panama run . Navy captains were assigned to command the mail steamers on the Atlantic and Pacific runs ; the ships were operated and maintained by companies under contract to the federal government . At the time , such mail steamers transported large quantities of gold from the California gold fields to cities on the East Coast and the US Mint in Philadelphia . ( " Central America " had recently been renamed from " George Law " . Aspinwall was an English name for Colón , Panama . ) Herndon was carrying perhaps 15 tons of gold ( then worth $ 2 , 000 , 000 ) and 474 passengers , many of whom were from California and were returning to the East Coast , as well as 101 crew members . After leaving Cuba on 7 September 1857 , a few days later , they encountered a three - day hurricane off Cape Hatteras . The hurricane steadily increased in force . By the 12th , the " Central America " was shipping water through several leaks due to the ship ' s lack of water - tight bulkheads and general unseaworthiness . Water in her hold put out her boiler fires , precluding the use of steam both for controlling the ship and pumping out the bilges . Herndon recognized that his ship was doomed ; he flew its flag upside down as a distress signal and hoped another ship would see them . At 2 p . m . , the West Indian brig " Marine " arrived to help take passengers from the stricken steamer . It did not have room to take on all of the passengers and crew . Commander Herndon supervised the difficult loading of women and children into lifeboats to transfer to the " Marine . " He gave one of the women passengers his watch to send to his wife , saying that he could not leave the ship while there 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 :