Day in the Life

Apr 28, 1841

Journal Entry

April 28, 1841 ~ Wednesday
28th This was a day that caused many mixed
sensations of pleasure & pain grandure & solemnity
hope & fear to many. To me it was a day that satisfy
ed mine eyse in many respects. When we arose
in the morning we still found strong head winds
which soon increased to a great storm & tempest
which scenery I have not language to describe the
sails were close reefed or taken in as soon as pos-
sible, it took 16 men to cloose reef the main top sail
the tempest was now raging with all power the
sea piling up into mountains, the ship mountain the
waves & billows & pitching into the valleys & rocking
tremendiously & shiping seas occasionly, in the midst
of this seenery the cry of help was herd in our
cabin I rushed to the scene & found the ropes giving
way & breaking which held the whole mass of baggage
which was piled up between decks, consisting of
heavy trunks, chests, Boxes & barrels which if once
liberated from their confinement would with one

surge be hurled with all their force into the births
of the men, women, & children which would endanger
the lives of all on seeing the foundation of this mass
give way Elder W. Richards & myself sprang to
this place of danger & braced ourselves against the
barrels & held them for a few moments untill it
was a little secured I then went on deck to the
Captain & informed him of the situation of things
below & he sent the sailors with some ropes & secured
the pile which was endangering the lives of many
After this was done I again repaired to the Aft quarter
deck to behold the raging of the tempest & the wonders
of the deedp & the movements of the ship which was the
greatest scenery I ever beheld upon the water
Elde[r]s Young, Kimball, Richard's & Smith was with
me on deck for a time but all had now gone below
except Elder Richards & myself & the officers &
crew, we were shiping heavy seas it was now
about sun set I stood in the middle of the aft quarter
deck holding the Captains speaking trumpet in one
hand & holding to a fast bench with the other when
we shipped a tremendious sea on the windward
side of us which passed clear over the quarter deck
on which I stood. On seeing that we could not esca-
pe it Elder Richards flung himself close under the
Bulwarks & the body of the wave went clear over
him without wetting him but little but as I could
not take the same advantage I flung myself
upon the deck & held upon the fast seat whare I
remained untill the sea passed over me & left me
drenched in the surge I now thought it time for
me to leave my seat of observation for the day
& go below as I was thoroughly wet with salt water,
I went to bed but did not sleep but little for
the ship rocked at a dredful rate boxes, barrels,
& tines were tumbling from one end of the
cabin to the other. And in the steerage about 15
Births were flung down 9 at one surge with
all the men women & children flung into a pile in
the midst of the berths but no lives lost or bones
broken. This is the 8th day in succession that we
have had strong headwind

People

Browse people Wilford Woodruff mentioned on this day in his journal. Click on the person's name to view a short bio and other pages they are mentioned on or click on "View in Family Search" to view their FamilySearch profile.

Young, Brigham
1 Jun 1801 - 29 Aug 1877
3433 mentions
Apostle, Family
Smith, George Albert
26 Jun 1817 - 1 Sep 1875
1432 mentions
Apostle, Missionary
Kimball, Heber Chase
14 Jun 1801 - 22 Jun 1868
1456 mentions
Apostle
Woodhouse, Philip
abt 1810-1876
7 mentions
Richards, Willard
24 Jun 1804 - 11 Mar 1854
541 mentions
Apostle

Events

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Apr 28, 1841