[6] In September 1845 he provided Father Sebastien Rale's strongbox, another family heirloom, for safekeeping to the Massachusetts Historical Society.

The expedition also visited Hawaii where "Purser R. R. Waldron and Joseph Drayton ventured inside Kilauea Caldera (in present day Hawaii Volcanoes National Park) and walked on the dome's hot surface until lava oozed through cracks that formed within fifteen feet of them.

"[11] Waldron Ledge, which overlooks the caldera from the eastern rim, is a popular twenty-minute hike from the park visitor's center where rangers often take groups on short talks.

They "received encouragement and support from knowledgeable and experienced naval officers, most notably Charles Wilkes and Richard Waldron, who had traversed the immense reaches of the Pacific Ocean and understood the strategic importance of the Hawaiian Islands....

In all, these [and other] insider contacts paved the way for Haalilio and Richards to meet on seven occasions with the reluctant and evasive Secretary Webster.

Historian Edward Crapol incorrectly characterizes the then 39-year-old Richard Russell Waldron as a young 23-year-old midshipman[19] in 1842, and Lyle Emerson Nelson follows him in that.