Letter to Phebe Whittemore Carter Woodruff, 29 January 1840
At Alfred Cordon’s, Club buildings, Navigation road, Burslem, Staffordshire, England.
My Dear Phebe
While seated in a foreign land I once more take up my pen to fill a sheet for your perusal
May grace, mercy, faith, peace, health, strength, & patience & resignation, rest upon you from GOD our Father & our LORD
JESUS CHRIST. I have chosen a large sheet because I have much I wish to say unto you. I sent you a letter
when I first arived in Liverpool but had not time to write but few words but merly designed you to know of my arival
But knowing that you feel interested in my mission. I will coppy from my journal in this letter an account of my
voyage & travels since I left New York to the present time, & then make such other remarks as I may have room. Dec 18th, 1839
in New York. I laboured hard all day to prepare for sailing. Three of us went on board (with our Baggage) of the Oxford a regular
packet ship of the New York & Liverpool line. viz Elders Taylor, Turley & myself, we slept on board. 19th The Oxford left the dock &
moved out into the stream. 20th At 12 oclock she spread her canvass & set sail, was assisted a few miles by a steam Boat.
She had on board 15 cabin & 64 steerage passengers & Capt John Rathbone, 1st Mate Yates, 2nd mate Jones, one carpenter & 26 sailors, making
109 souls in all. Cabin fare $1.40 dollars steerage $15. Fair wind & sail well. 21st stift breeze & fair wind most all
on board sea sick. 22nd Most are still sick Taylor, Turley, & myself some sick, a high wind through the day & a high gale at
night, Boat rocked & pitched Badly. 23rd Sea vary rough & winds high, some still sick 24th Sea mountains high & as
rough as the Hills & valies of Kirtland. when we were in the trough of the sea, the waters would appear to be an hundred feet
above us in the air, the waters broke over the ship, & I got vary wet, & as their was no fire to go to except to cook by, I sat on
deck in the wind untill late in the evening to get dry, & though it was winter it was not vary cold. 25th A calm in the mo
rning, the ship rocked bad upon the dead swells, wind soon rose & we sailed well 26th A rough sea & strong Breeze. 27th fair
winds, but some short squals. got over sea sickness, have a sharp appetite 28th Rough sea saw a large school of Black
fish & porposes. 29th pleasant morning & high breeze though the day. 30th A rough sea severe gale at night. it was with diffi-
culty we could keep our births, while at the same time, Boxes, Barrels, & trunks were tumbling about the cabins. This
with the noise of the Officers, & sailors reefing & taking in sail, together with the sound of the roaring winds & rushing waves
made much confusion. 31st Sea rough, sails under class reef, cloudy weather. This is the Last Day of 1839. Their is
not much to interest the mind while taking a voyage at sea. (excepting the roo^ll^ing [P]illows which are magestic) for one
is frecquently for many days without the sight of land or ever seeing a sail at sea, & must be crouded thick
together in a cabin or stay upon dek in the spray, wind, or storm &c. JAN. 1st 1840. So time rolls along
rough sea, blustering, cloudy, & high winds 2nd The sun rose clear, it being the first time we have seen it for 5 days
we have a calm, a sail is in sight, the first one we have seen since we left New York it is stern of us. 3rd Fair & good breeze
sail 12 miles an hour. We spoke a British Brigg from Halifax 20 days at sea bound for Liverpool in Long. 34.40. We past her
with great speed. 4th Fair weather & wind, stiff Breeze & fast sailing. They had a time of butchering hogs & sheep on board.
5th rough sea, high winds, & rain. We saw a large school of porposes. A calm & pleasant evening which we spent on deck
viewing the stars & Ocean. 6th A calm we have 12 sails spread. 7th A dead calm to day in Lon. 17.40 The passengers shot a number
of fowls which fell dead into the water. We spoke a Scottish Bark from Leith Scotland bound for Granada a west Indies Island 7 days at
sea. We saw a large school of Black fish some of them were 20 feet in length. 8th a good wind. a lighted bar Barrel was sat afloat
from the ship at night which appeared Brilliant at sea. Jan 9th cloudy & cold. smooth sea & fair breeze. We are about enter-
ing the St George’s channel. !!! Ho !!! Ho the cry of land land is herd from mast head. We went on to the forecastle & after straining our
eyes for a few moments we got sight of it. It was the Irish Coast lying 3 points to our lee bow. this is the first land we have seen for 20
days. At 8 oclock PM the revolving lamp at the lighthouse a cape clear came in full view. 10th The mountains of the Irish
coast, & also 6 or 7 sail is in ful view weather cloudy, & rather cold. We walked the deck untill 9 oclock viewing the light
houses &c. 11th We had a heavy gale commenced at one oclok in the morning. We were in danger having the Irish coast on one side
^the^ coast &^of^ wales on the other. their was a great bustle & noise on board from the captain, Mates, sailors, winds & waves &c. We
reached the pilote ground at daylight & raised colours for a pilot... a pilot Boat soon appea[r]ed & came along side & sent a pilot
on board of us, who arived in the midst of the gale. The pilot informed the captain that the steam ship Liverpool had not
yet arived & she left New York 5 days befor[e] we did. & that the packet ship Independance had not reached Liverpool & she left
New York 10 days before us. This intelligence created a great shout of rejoicings on board the ship, for it was the first time
that they had known a steam ship, beaten by a packet ship. but the intelligence was no sooner commun[ic]ated
before the steam ship Liverpool [here] in sight behind us & was gaining upon us. The pilot ordered the sails to be
unreefed notwithstanding it was blowing or gale & we were soon out of sight of the Liverpool again. We had not
sailed but a short time with this speed before the town of Liverpool in England was in sight & an English steam
Boat soon came & took us in tow & soon brought us along side of the quay in Liverpool upon which stood
thousands of human beings looking to see us land. the steam ship Liverpool came up just as we landed
& fired two salutes of cannon at us as she past by. & Also the packet ship Independance came in in a few
minutes after. It was truly a singular circumstance that the Oxford, steam ship Liverpool, & Independance should
all reach the quay at Liverpool within 20 minutes of each other, when one left N.Y. 5 days & the other 10 before the Oxford
but so it was… Thus you see after 22 days sail we arived safe in Liverpool in good health & spirits & for the first time
I began to tread the soil in Old England. We took a walk into the streets of Liverpool. & visited some of the
most Noted places of the Town, such as New Market, Custom House, Lord Nelsons Monument, &c. all of which
were splendid. The Market contained a vast variety of evry kind of meats, fish, fowls, & vegitables that I ever saw
The Custom House was built of hewn stone in the form of an H and covered four acres of grouned. Lord Nelson’s
Monument is all of Brass about 14 feet high & 3 rods around it their is 4 large personages as large as life with a chain
around their necks ^hands^ with one end of it in the mouth of a Lion, these are 4 Kings that Lord Nelson subdued in his day.
Lord Nelson stands above those 4 Kings holding 4 crowns [FIGURES] in his hand, & death stands by his side partly covered
with a shroud with one hand upon his Body. these are some of the prominent features of Lord Nelsons monument though
there are others of miner consequence. He was killed in batle while commanding his fleet, his monument is much
Noted in England. Their is not as much taste in general in pollishing, painting, & garnishing the out side of the buil-
-ldings in the cities & towns in England as in America, but they build more for duribility, their buildings are
far more expensive than in America, for they are composed of vast masses of huge stone or brick, though some of their
buildings are far more spe^l^ended than those of America. Their is one thing vary disagreeable throughout England, the whole
hemisphere or air is filled with smoke, smut, & gases, that rise from the dens population & burning of coal &c., the air
is vary heavy & bad for the lungs, but the weather is not cold as in America, it is quite mild weather notwithstanding
England is in 51 to 55 degrees North Lat I have not seen a flake of snow since I left New York is^t^ is 3,500 miles from New York to
Liverpool. Jan 12 Sunday I attended meeting at St Pauls Church, St Thomases Church which is the church of England I thought it vary
singular to hear the Rector's, & Curit’s preach against a form of Godliness without the power theirof & professing religion without
having the fruits of it. while perhaps their is no people more formal than themselves. In the evening I attended meeting at
Pitt street methodist chapel, the speaker appeared quite co[z]y & simple in his manners. All of the above named churches were
