November 24, 1852, I boarded the Abyssinia, paying sixty dollars steerage passage to San Francisco, California. When I got on the deck, the seamen and some of the passengers crowded around me, and stared at me as if I had been a wild beast. When I saluted them with, "Gentlemen, how are you?" they looked at each other as much as to say, "Shall we return the compliment?" At last one of the sailors took off his hat, made a bow, and said, "Please sir, can you speak English?" I answered, "Yes, sir, a little." The next question was, "And are you a Mormon Elder?" My reply was, "Yes," and was followed with, "Well, pardon me, but I thought a Mormon Elder had a cloven foot and a shell on his back, and I expected that you would be brought aboard in a case, as I have been told that the Mormons were a kind of half beast, fierce, and wild."
Some of the others said that they had had the same ideas. A third party exclaimed, "What d—d lies they have told us! We have been anxious to see this Elder ever since we heard there was one coming on board, and we thought to see you brought in a big cage. We cannot see any difference in you and common men." So much for wild and slanderous stories afloat in those days and in that part of the world.
Shortly the vessel was got under way, but just as we entered the passage the wind slackened so that we came very near being crushed against the reef. Five boats from a French warship came to our aid, as we had cast anchor to save ourselves, and the Frenchmen towed us back to a safe location, where we lay until the 26th.
We tried it again on the 27th, and as we passed out of the harbor we went close to the French warship, which was weighing anchor. On the deck stood the Catholic bishop, who held up his cross and made signs. He said there was trouble in Anaa again, and he was going there.
After we sailed, the captain of the Abyssinia asked me to lend him some books on Mormonism. I let him take the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants. He returned them on the 29th, saying, "I believe the books and your prayers have made me sick." He did not trouble me any more about Mormonism, yet treated me with proper respect, as a rule.
There were several male and female passengers on board, a portion of the latter being of the lewd class, judging from their actions; and the former were not much better. I loaned all the books that I had to passengers and seamen. Nearly all on board treated me in a courteous manner.
On November 30th a waterspout passed close to our ship, causing much excitement. Its roar was frightful, as it carried a very great column of water up into the air, and spread it out into the clouds like a whirlwind on land, but on so much larger scale as to be a dread to seamen.
December 1st we sighted what the captain called Flint's Island. It was large and high, and appeared to be inhabited. On the 10th we crossed the equator, where the seamen had some sport at the expense of several of the passengers who had not crossed it before. They made preparations for Neptune, and told many stories of his pranks with those who dared cross his path without paying penance, or treating the ship's crew.
On the 20th we encountered a terrific storm, which carried away most of our sail, and left us badly damaged. On Christmas day we had something like a tidal wave in a calm sea. The wave was so great that it swept away the main topgallant sail and the jib boom. Two seamen were carried below for dead. The ship sprung a leak in the bow, and the peril became so great that all the seamen and the male passengers were called to lend a hand. It being in the night, the consternation was so intense that passengers were on the deck in their night clothes, screaming. Some shouted to pray, and others did pray with all the fervor at their command, especially when the carpenter, reporting that the vessel was parting in her beams, called for men to turn the windlass, and for kettles of hot tar, blankets, caulking, chisels, and anything to make repairs. As the wind began to freshen, the boat headed before it, without any regard to course. The next order was, "Down with the hatches!"
"Aye, aye, sir."