New York, June 3rd, 1879.President William Budge,

Dear Brother,--We are now nearing the haven of New York, and most of the people, anxious to acquaint their friends of their safe arrival, are busy getting their mail matter finished off. In behalf of the company, therefore, it affords me pleasure to pen you a few lines, descriptive of our voyage across the Atlantic.

As stated in my last, we arrived in Queenstown about 8 o'clock on the Sunday morning, and after having taken on board quite a number of Irish emigrants, we set sail once more about 9 a.m.

The weather continued fine until shortly after 1 o'clock, when the breeze, which had been blowing gently ahead, began to freshen, and the sea, which had all along been comparatively smooth, showed signs of coming trouble. The wind kept increasing, the sea rose, and the vessel began to pitch and roll rather heavily. Of course it will be easy for you to guess the result of all this; seasickness became prevalent throughout the ship, in fact only a few of the 450 passengers (about the number on board, all told) were left to tell the tale of not being sick. I was one of the fortunate individuals unaffected by this unpleasant malady. The same, however, cannot be said of the returning elders, all of whom, with the exception of President McDonald [Macdonald], suffered considerably for two or three days.

The seasickness over, the rest of the voyage was performed in fine weather and smooth water. In fact the Lord has blessed us on our voyage Zionward. The best of feeling has prevailed amongst the Saints, each one bearing with another in all the thousand and one discomforts of a sea voyage. I have noticed, however, that what seemed to be discomforts to some were certainly not discomforts to the same extent to others. Many appeared to forget they were steerage passengers, and of course were inclined to speak in anything but complimentary terms of the food supplied from time to time. This state of things having reached the ears of President McDonald [Macdonald], he embraced the earliest opportunity of explaining, in meeting assembled, that if any of the Saints felt aggrieved in anything he would be glad to hear of the same with a view to its being remedied, as it was the wish of the company, as well as the officers on board, that all should be satisfied. So far as I myself am concerned I think there has been nothing to complain of. It is true that the food supplied is what may be called rough and ready, but withal it is at once substantial and good. No man could be more attentive to the interests of the people than Mr. Patfield, the chief steward. Civility predominates in him, and almost at every meal he could be seen going amongst the people supplying their every want to the best of his ability. This is more than can be said of every chief steward, as many would consider it beneath their dignity, if not degrading, to be seen serving out soup, or otherwise attending to the wants of the steerage passengers. The latter are perhaps too often looked upon as unworthy of a great deal of attention. Mr. Patfield, however, seems to think differently, and it is only right that the fact should be recorded. His attention to the wants of the Latter-day Saints is highly commendable, and the same may be said of his assistants. I have dwelt more fully on this point than I intended; but if I have transgressed in this respect you must set it down as due to the desire to see things put in their proper light. I trust, however, that my remarks on this matter will not be misunderstood. They are written in the best spirit and with the hope that they may prove beneficial to many, if not all, of the Saints that are to follow this season, I will therefore leave the subject by repeating that people who take out a steerage passage cannot expect to be supplied with cabin fare. If they do they will be disappointed, and had better take my advice and provide if they are very particular about what they eat what little dainties they can afford, in [p.390] the shape of tea, coffee, sugar, cheese, ham, etc., etc., and thus be at as little inconvenience as possible. Every opportunity is afforded the passengers for cooking, or getting cooked, anything they may fancy over and above the steerage fare.

But, to return to our passage, I can only say we have been blessed with remarkably fine weather. Meetings have been held regularly morning and evening, at which excellent instructions and counsel have been given to the Saints by the brethren. On Saturday afternoon an interesting meeting was held on the deck forward, the speakers being President McDonald [Macdonald] and Elder [Samuel] Adams. Of course the first principles of the gospel were preached, and afterwards the creed of the "Mormons" became quite a topic of discussion amongst the strangers on board.

On Sunday afternoon, the weather being favorable, sacrament was administered to the Saints, followed by a testimony meeting. Many excellent testimonies were borne, all feeling thankful for the opportunity afforded them to bear witness to the truth of the gospel which they had espoused. At this meeting the interesting ceremony of naming a child (eight weeks old) took place, the duty being performed by President McDonald [Macdonald], assisted by several of the brethren. The child in question is the infant son of Mr. and Mrs. George Ashley, of Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, who are journeying with the Saints to join their relatives in Bear Lake Valley. Mr. Ashley, I have been informed, is the nearest of kin living to the poet Shakespeare, of Stratford-upon-Avon, and it may not be uninteresting to record the fact that the child has been named Alfred Shakespeare Ashley.

Although our passage has been a most favorable one, still we shall be glad to get onshore and find ourselves safely seated in the cars, en route for the Far West. Everything has gone well with us up to this point.

A. [Alexander] F. McDonald [Macdonald], President,Jacob Scharrer, Counselor,J. E. Cowley, Counselor,John Irvine, Secretary. [p.391]

BIB: McDonald [Macdonald], A. [Alexander] F., et. al. [Letter],
Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star 41:25, (June 23, 1879) pp. 390-91. (CHL)
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