. . . We went on board the Franklin in the evening of Tuesday, April 8th, and I was appointed to locate the emigrants in their bunks below deck. These bunks, 160 in number, were so wide that three persons easily could have room in one of them side by side. After getting our baggage in order, we received our rations of provisions. These consisted of beef, pork, peas, beans, potatoes, pearl barley, rice, prunes, syrup, vinegar, pepper, coffee, tea, sugar, butter, rye bread, sea biscuits, water, flour, salted herring, salt and oil (for the lamps). We lighted eleven lanterns every night, six of which belonged to the ship and five to the emigrants. We hired an extra cook in Hamburg for ninety rigsdaler - two of our brethren served as assistant cooks. We thus had out dinners nicely cooked in about the following routine, viz., Sunday we had sweet soup; Monday, pea soup; Tuesday and Wednesday, rice; Thursday, pea soup; Friday, barley mush; and Saturday, herring and potatoes.

Some of the emigrants carried measles with them from home and the disease soon spread to all parts of the ship; no less than forty persons, mostly children, were attacked at once. Many of the emigrants were also suffering with diar-[p.319]rhea, which caused much weakness of body. We lost the appetite for sea biscuits, but learned to soak them in water or tea from eight to ten hours, which softened them so that they were more palatable. The sick were served twice a day with porridge made from barley, rice or sago, and almost every day pancakes could be had by the hundreds for the sick who could not eat the 'hard tack'. Wheat bread was also baked for some of the old people. We held a council meeting almost every night, and the sanitary conditions of the ship's apartments were attended with great care. Three times a week the decks were washed and twice a week the ship was thoroughly fumigated by burning tar. A spirit of peace prevailed and very few difficulties occurred. The captain and crew were good-natured and obliging, and so were the cooks, who even served the sick when they were not on duty.

We held at times meetings of worship on the upper decks, and every morning at 5 o'clock the signal for rising was given by the clarinet or accordion. At 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. a similar signal was sounded, calling the Saints to assemble in their several districts for prayer. Most every day we amused ourselves a short time by dancing on the deck to music played by some of our brethren or members of the crew. We could have had an enjoyable time, had it not been for the sorrow occasioned by the many sick and dying among us on account of the measles. . . . [p.320]

BIB: Weibye, Jens C. A., [Excerpt], An Enduring Legacy, vol. 4 (Salt Lake City: Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 1981) pp. 319-320. (CHL)
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