. . . I was released from my mission in January, 1850. By the request of President Pratt I left Liverpool about two weeks sooner than I had intended, as he wished me to sail on a certain boat and take charge of a large box containing money and goods which were to be sent to the Presidency of the Church in Salt Lake.

Having been released to return home, I set sail from England with a company of Saints on the 10th of January, 1850. Jeter Clinton was appointed president of the company and I was appointed one of his counselors.

We sailed along quite comfortably until the twenty-sixth of the month when a terrible storm arose. About two o'clock in the afternoon the sea began to swell and show its power, and the vessel lay first on one side and then on the other. Water came in upon us on both sides of our ship. We lost our sails and yard-arms, and the chains in the rigging of the ship broke. [p.72] In the evening, when everything looked most dismal, our president called together his counselors and all joined in prayer to the Lord to cause the winds to cease. Scarcely had the brethren ceased their supplications when there was a calm, so sudden in fact that the captain and the officers of the ship were greatly surprised, and they came and inquired of us how it was that we felt so happy and gay amid the great danger through which we had just passed. They could not realize that the Lord removed all fear from the hearts of his faithful Saints when they were endeavoring to do their duty.

On March 8, 1850, we arrived safely at New Orleans. We felt truly thankful that the Lord had preserved us from the dangers of the deep and brought us to the shores of America.

From the time of my arrival at New Orleans till the 1st of June, when I started west, I spent my time between that city and Council Bluffs, in preparing for my journey across the plains. I traveled with the camp in Captain Aaron Johnson's company. . . . [p.73]

. . .Through the mercy of God I reached the Valley in safety and found my family alive and well, as Brother Kimball had predicted when he gave me his parting blessing on the banks of the Elkhorn River. . . .[p. 74]

BIB: Burgess, Harrison. "Sketch of a Well-spent Life." in
Labors in the Vineyard, Twelfth Book of the Faith-Promoting Series (SLC: Juvenile Instructor Office, 1884) pp. 72-74. (CHL)
(source abbreviations)