Description
Israel Barlow and the Storm
April 22, 1855, the ship, Samuel Curling, sailed from Liverpool, England with 581 Latter-day Saints on board, all under the leadership of Israel Barlow. One of those in that company would later recount that the ship encountered several storms while crossing the North Atlantic. In one of those storms the ship’s captain became disheartened at the storms fury and declared to Brother Barlow that “in his long experience as a seafaring man, he had never encountered a worse one; he then added that the tempest had not reached its highest point yet, but that the next half hour would be worse still.”
It was at that point when Barlow, not an experienced seaman, boldly announced to the captain “that the storm was nearly over, and would not increase in violence.”
Now how could he know that? The comment made the Captain angry, as he figured “he knew more about the weather and the sea than anyone else on board.” He then went to “his cabin to examine his barometer and other nautical instruments.” To his surprise, he discovered the Mormon was right; the storm was calming and “abated almost immediately.”
Now how did President Israel Barlow know that the ship would be saved? During that time when the storm was raging, he stood on deck and witnessed scores of angels encircling the ship with joined hands. It “was a testimony to the Saints that the Lord was watching over the ship, and that there was no danger.”
The good ship Samuel Curling arrived safely in New York, May 22, 1855. There had been no deaths on the voyage and a net gain of three among the Saints with the birth of three babies.
No matter what happens in this life it is well for us to remember the covenant that the Lord made with us through Isaiah, “The mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace by removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on the. O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest and not comforted!
Sources:
(Millennial Star, Vol. XVII, pp. 280, 397, 399, 423, 424, 459, 461, 490.)” Cont., 13:12 (Oct. 1892), p.547-48 “Sun. 22. [Apr. 1855]
The Israel Barlow Story & Mormon Mores, by Ora H. Barlow, page 381-600? Also found in “A Compilation of General Voyage Notes”
Copyright Glenn Rawson 2020
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