Herndon Monument

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The Herndon Monument on the grounds of the U.S. Naval Academy is a tall grey obelisk. It was erected in memory of Captain William Lewis Herndon who courageously decided to go down with his ship, SS Central America, and the men left aboard rather than save himself on September 12, 1857. All women and children and many of the men aboard were saved by a nearby ship during the storm.

It is the site of the famous "plebes-no-more" ceremony, where the plebes (first year students at the academy) all work together to climb the greased monument and replace a plebe "dixie-cup hat" on top with a midshipman hat. This is the official end of the plebe year and comes as a great relief to all the first year students.

It is a Naval Academy tradition that the Midshipman who replaces the dixie cup hat will be given a pair of Admiral's shoulder boards. Legend says that he or she will be the first of his or her class to make Flag Rank, although in reality this has not yet occurred.

The academy began recording times in 1962 when Midshipman 4th Class Ed Linz scaled the monument with the aid of a cargo net. Using such devices are now banned.

The record was set in 1969, when Midshipman Larry Fanning made the climb in 1 minute and 30 seconds. However the monument was not greased.

A sample of the previous times for making the Herndon climb by year completed are:

Year Climbed	Class Year	Time
1962	1965	3 minutes*
1969	1972	1 minute, 30 seconds**
1981	1984	1 hour, 21 minutes
1982	1985	3 hours, 12 minutes, 23 seconds
1993	1996	1 hour, 38 minutes, 20 seconds
1994	1997	1 hour, 44 minutes, 20 seconds
1995	1998	4 hours, 5 minutes, 17 seconds***
1996	1999	2 hours, 8 minutes, 46 seconds
1997	2000	2 hours, 55 minutes, 17 seconds
1998	2001	2 hours, 22 minutes, 55 seconds: Josh "Stew" Stewart
1999	2002	2 hours, 7 minutes, 41 seconds
2000	2003	1 hour, 19 minutes, 44 seconds
2001	2004	2 hours, 15 minutes, 52 seconds
2002	2005	2 hours, 7 minutes, 41 seconds
2003	2006	1 hour, 19 minutes, 44 seconds
2004	2007	2 hours, 19 minutes, 24 seconds: Philip "Flip" Johnson
2005	2008	1 hour, 16 minutes, 13 seconds: Dave Olson
2006	2009	1 hour, 14 minutes, 15 seconds: Brian Richards
2007	2010	1 hour, 32 minutes, 43 seconds: Jamie Shrock
2008	2011	2 hours, 35 minutes, 59 seconds: Greg Reichel

* First recorded time
** Fastest time officially recorded, although the monument was not greased
*** Longest time

[edit] References

• http://www.usna.org/HerndonPAO.html
• http://www.hometownannapolis.com/cgi-bin/read/2006/05_18-15/NAV

[edit] External links

Final Voyage of the SS Central America

Herndon and Gibbon, The First North American Explorers of the Amazon Valley

Youtube video of plebes scaling Herndon