ON STEAMER FOR AUSTRALIA
Thursday, Aug. 26th. We boarded the steamer "Great Britain", for Melbourne, Australia. We started from London at 4:00 A.M. and reached the mouth of the Thames River about eight. At nine we passed Ramsgate, a noted watering place. We were meeting and passing numbers of vessels of all sizes, from the little sloop to the great steamers. At eleven I wrote home so that my folks would have the latest news. At 1:00 P.M. we discharged the pilot boat.
President Joseph F. Smith of the European Mission and President F.M. Lyman of the London Conference came to see us under way and returned with the pilot boat, taking our mail with them. We steamed southwest along the coast in the English Channel, and passed within a quarter mile of the shore at Dover. It is a shipping port for France. The strait here is only a twenty-one miles wide. We turned in at 9:00 P.M. There was a heavy dew.
President Joseph F. Smith of the European Mission and President F.M. Lyman of the London Conference came to see us under way and returned with the pilot boat, taking our mail with them. We steamed southwest along the coast in the English Channel, and passed within a quarter mile of the shore at Dover. It is a shipping port for France. The strait here is only a twenty-one miles wide. We turned in at 9:00 P.M. There was a heavy dew.
A copy of the letter from Elders Welling, Steed, and Miller was posted in the Millenial Star, Volume 37, pages 589 and 590. Below is the transcript:
ReplyDeleteOn board SS Great Britain,
Gravesend, London,
Aug. 25 1875
Prest. Joseph F. Smith
Dear Brother,- We were called last spring by the Authorities in Zion to preach the Gospel, and our mission was to all people, and in particular to the Australian Islands. After obtaining the consent of Prest. Brigham Young, we concluded to come this way, Elders Welling and Steed wishing to visit friends and obtain "genealogies." We arrived in Liverpool on the 4th of July, 20 days from home. We thank you and the brethren in the Office for the great kindness we received at your hands. We soon separated, brother Steed going to Malvern, from whence he emigrated over 31 years ago; Brother Jacob Miller has been traveling in Durham, Yorkshire, Warwickshire, Leicestershire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire, and London; brother Job visiting among his friends in Cheshire and Staffordshire, whom he left nearly 20 years ago. We have been well received by our kinsmen and the Saints, and have endeavored to do all the good we could, and we believe that good will come from our labors, although we did not succeed as well in obtaining genealogies of our ancestry we could have wished.
On Aug. llth, with the kind assistance of brothers Lyman and Binder we arranged with Gibbs, Bright & Co., our passage on the SS Great Britain, bound for Melbourne, procuring a room for ourselves at 94(pounds) 10s.
We unite in thanking you for the interest you have taken in our welfare, and for the excellent instruction given your counsels. We are much indebted to all of our brethren from Zion whom we have seen, and to all the Saints whom we have visited.
We raise anchor tomorrow at daybreak. We have dedicated our room and the ship to God and we will try to improve the time on the long voyage before us.
May the blessing of our heavenly Father be with you all, and upon us, that we may win souls to him; and, "In the sweet bye and bye," with "Friends, wives and children, how happy we'll be,
And shout, when the trumpet sounds, Zion is free."
We remain your brethren in the covenant of peace.
Job Welling
Thomas Steed
Jacob Miller
This explains why they went the long way to England in stead of going across the Pacific to Australia. Seems that Elders Welling and Steed wanted to see family and gather genealogy and Jacob went along. Not sure is going alone to Australia would have been an option. He certainly never complained in his journal.
ReplyDeleteAn additional mention in the Millenial Star under Mission News, page 587, volume 37:
ReplyDeleteElders Welling, Steed and Miller sailed from London on board the S.S. Great Britain, Aug. 26th, ult., for their field of missionary enterprise in Australia. These brethren left us in excellent health and spirits. We think they are men well qualified for the work of the ministry in that remote part of the globe. During their brief sojourn in this land they have labored with commendable zeal. We anticipate a revival of the Work when they enter into the active duties of their mission. The people there are advanced in liberal ideas and the virtue of the Gospel will penetrate many honest through the instrumentality of these faithful and energetic men of God.