high into the air. Now and then could be seen a
whale spouting water high above the sea. Daniel was frequently found studying his
surveyor's book of instructions he received when he purchased surveyors instruments,
before leaving Boston, and had received only three days of instructions from his teacher.
These studies qualified him for enumerative employment, as we shall see later on in his
memoir. While Daniel could not sing, yet he listened to any solos and congregational hymns
being sung as the ship glided smoothly along the eastern coast of South America. Suddenly
the weather became colder and heavy seas and storms came up, causing ice to form on the
sails and rigging, making the masts almost uncontrollable.
Captain Richardson came down into the large room
to warn the Saints of their eminent danger and warned them to prepare for the worst. At
his astonishment he found them singing and praying with the utmost peace and composure,
evidencing their faith in their trusted God to guide them to their Promised Land afar.
The Ship Brooklyn reached the southern tip of
South America, where the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans meet together, known as Cape Cod,
or Drake's Passage. In the past many shipwrecks had taken the lives of large numbers of
adventurous seafaring travelers. They passed this the southernmost point on April 10,
1846. And the temperature was 30 degrees F. Treacherous seas and fierce winds tossed the
ship about so much that many of the saints became very sick and several small children
died, and were lowered into the ocean for a resting place. Many prayers went up for the
Lord's kind protection.
Captain Richardson's anxiety and concern was for
his living cargo which he had undertaken to transport form the Eastern Coast to the
Western coast, and realizing the casks of water taken from Croton Lake in New York were
becoming low, he made several attempts to land on the west coast of Chile, but because of
stormy weather and strong southerly winds he could not make a landing; so he set his sails
for an island 430 miles west of Chile. This Island was Juan Fernandez, famous in the story
by Defoe about Robinson Crusoe. Daniel records in his diary May 1, 1846, that the ship
Brooklyn dropped her anchor in a cove of this lonely island and so many of the emigrants
were taken ashore each day until all had a chance to walk on the earth again. The ship
anchored some distance from shore and they were taken in small rowboats carried aboard the
ship. Daniel said it was a beautiful island covered with all kinds of trees, shrubbery,
and flowers with birds singing in their branches, making the place a most restful and
appreciated stop on their journey. The saints all mourned the death of Sister Laura
Goodwin who was buried on this