On August 20, 1857, the steamer SS Sonora sailed from San Francisco harbor bound for the Isthmus of Panama. On board were 578 passengers and crew, as well as a commercial shipment of gold. Valued at $1.6 million, the gold came in all forms - dust, nuggets, coins and, of course, ingots. In the days of the gold rush, such a cargo was not at all unusual.
The passengers on board came from all walks of life: merchants, tradesmen, journalists, engineers, miners, housewives and children. Some were returning to the eastern U.S. via Panama permanently. Others were just headed back east for a visit. The Sonora's voyage to Panama was unremarkable. She arrived in Panama on September 2.
While the Sonora was transiting from San Francisco to the Pacific coast of Panama, the steamer SS Central America was making a similar journey from New York to the Atlantic coast of Panama. Just like the Sonora, the Central America cast off on August 20 and arrived in Panama on September 2. Operated by the United States Mail Steamship Company, the Central America was a 272-foot long sidewheel steamship launched 5 years earlier as the SS George Law. By August of 1857, she had 43 round trips between New York and Panama to her credit.
While the Sonora's passengers debarked with their possessions and the gold shipment in the Pacific port city of Chagres, the Central America was refueled and provisioned at Aspinwall on the Atlantic side of the Isthmus of Panama.
The passengers and heavily-insured gold were then loaded on the narrow-gauge rail of the recently established Panama railroad. The three and a half hour train ride was a marked improvement over the weeklong trek through the jungle, which travelers had to endure prior to the railroad's completion in 1855.
The Central America's 102-man crew wasted little time in loading the passengers and gold on board their ship. On the afternoon of September 4, she left Panama bound for New York. No one could know, at the time, that this was to be the ship's final voyage. After 4 days of steaming in calm seas, the Central America dropped anchor in Havana harbor to take on more coal and provisions. On the morning of September 9, she weighed anchor and set off for New York. She would never reach safe harbor again. The stage was set for a tragic calamity.
Very early into the final leg of her voyage, the Central America was pushed by a stiff southerly breeze. By the time the sun went down in an ominous red sunset, the wind was strong enough to prompt one passenger to ask the ship's captain, Commander William Lewis Herndon, about shipwrecks. "If she goes down, I go under her keel," retorted Herndon.
By the next morning, the weather
had grown even worse. As a squall line approached, the passengers were forced
to beat a hasty retreat below decks. By early evening, the Central America
was rolling in deep swells as waves pounded the sides of her hull and high
winds howled through her rigging. The passengers were now in utter misery
as the effects of seasickness took a fearful toll in the cramped quarters
below 
deck.
By Friday, September 11, the sheets of rain and mountainous waves had put the Central America in critical danger. She was taking on water and began to list. As she settled to port, it became impossible to get coal to the engine room to fire the boilers. The ship lost her ability to maneuver and the bilge pumps shut down. The flooding grew progressively worse and the Central America became a helpless, storm-tossed hulk. Commander Herndon ordered the 3rd officer to set the massive storm sail, but the wind tore the sail to pieces. The Central America was losing its battle with the sea.
The final day for the Central America, September 12, 1857, began with an ominous sign: Commander Herndon had the ensign hoisted upside down to indicate that the ship was in distress.
Just before noon, the brig Marine came upon the Central America. Realizing that his ship was doomed, Commander Herndon loaded the women and children into the lifeboats. The boats' crews rowed across nearly 3 miles of stormy seas to the relative safety of the Marine.
The men on the Central America realized that the ship could not survive the night. Herndon came to grips with his ship's fate, donned his dress uniform and climbed atop the paddlewheel. His last act was to fire off a set of rockets to indicate that the ship was sinking rapidly.
At about 8:00 p.m., the Central America lurched and succumbed to the hurricane's fury. She slipped beneath the waves at a 45-degree angle. All of the men left aboard had managed to locate life preservers, but the enormous suction created by the sinking vessel pulled many below. Many of those who survived the draw of the ship subsequently drowned in the storm-driven waves of the Atlantic Ocean.
Shortly after midnight, the sea calmed and the hurricane moved on. The Norwegian ship Ellen arrived on the scene and her crew began pulling men from the sea. By mid-morning the crew of the Ellen had saved 50 people. Of her 578 passengers and crew and golden cargo, the SS Central America took 425 souls along with over $1.6 million in gold coins, dust, nuggets, and assay bars with her to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.
The sinking of the SS Central America is America's worst peace-time maritime disaster. The loss of life and the immense gold shipment did more than provide fodder for newspapers of the era; it sparked a nationwide financial panic that exacerbated economic shock-waves throughout the global markets.
