"SAILING OF THE KENNEBEC. -- This large, new, and commodious ship of ten hundred and seventy tons register, went out of the Bramley-Moore Dock, on the morning of the tenth instant, having been detained two days by adverse winds, which blew a heavy gale outside. She had three hundred and thirty-three souls of the Saints on board. We had chartered the ship Devonshire, but being a little disappointed in her qualifications for sea, we also blew a head wind and secured the Kennebec, which is an unusually spacious and commodious vessel. After getting their luggage put to rights, the Saints seemed very cheerful, and gave vent to their feelings in songs and praise, as the noble ship passed out upon the bosom of the Mersey, and left the shore fading in the distance.
Included in this company were Elders John S. Higbee, John Spiers, Thomas Smith, and W. C. Dunbar, each presidents of conferences, faithful in their callings, and going up to the Zion of the Lord, having done a great and good work in this land. Many thousands, who will have obtained the gift of eternal life through the instrumentality of these faithful men, will rejoice with them in the kingdoms of God. We have pleasure also in announcing the departure of Elder John Pack of the French Mission, with about a dozen Saints from the Channel Islands. How joyous to witness the departure of Saints of the different tongues and families of the earth from their native lands, to mingle with God's people in establishing his purposes on the earth. Elder Higbee was appointed president of the company, and the several elders above named were called to be his counsellors, under whose excellent superintendence the Saints will doubtless enjoy much of the Spirit of God during their passage on the waters."
MS, 14:3 (Feb. 1, 1852), pp.41-2
"FIFTY-SIXTH COMPANY. -- Kennebec, 333 souls. January 10, 1852, in the morning, the Kennebec, a new and commodious ship of one thousand and seventy tons register, went out of the Bramley-Moore Dock, at Liverpool, England, with three hundred and thirty-three souls of the Saints on board, under the presidency of John S. Higbee. John Pack also returned from his mission on this vessel, accompanied by about a dozen saints from the Channel Islands. He was appointed to act as a counselor to President Higbee, together with John Spiers, Thomas Smith and William C. Dunbar, who all had presided over conferences.
Included in the number of Saints who emigrated in the Kennebec, were sixty-nine passengers whose fare was paid by the Perpetual Emigrating [Emigration] Fund Company -- the first ones who emigrated by that means.
Besides the Saints there were a number of Irish emigrants on board, who were not supplied with sufficient provisions to last them till the end of the voyage; but in order to lay in a sufficient supply, they stole all they possibly could from the Mormon emigrants, who consequently had to go short themselves, and were compelled to subsist on half rations the last four or five days before landing. These Irish emigrants were taken on board because there were not Saints enough to fill the ship. Peace and harmony prevailed among the latter as a rule; also good health; the provisions and water were good, and wholesome, and included oatmeal and pork; but as the English did not like oatmeal and the Scotch could not relish pork, they exchanged these articles of food with each other, to the great satisfaction of both parties.
The voyage throughout was a safe and pleasant one, with the exception of one terrific hurricane, which swept the deck clean of cook houses, water barrels, and everything else that could be washed overboard. On the eleventh (or fourteenth) of March, 1852, the company arrived in New Orleans.
From New Orleans the Saints who had crossed the Atlantic in the Kennebec continued the journey on board a small boat called The Pride of the West, and arrived at St. Louis, Missouri, about the end of March. Soon after leaving New Orleans a young man, Snedden by name, fell or was accidentally thrown overboard and drowned; his body was never recovered.
Some of the Kennebec Saints remained temporarily in St. Louis, but a number of those who continued the journey to the Valley that season only tarried in that city a few days; as they took passage on an old dilapidated steamboat, the Saluda, which had been chartered by Elders Eli B. Kelsey and David J. Ross, to take a company of Saints up the river to Council Bluffs. On the thirtieth of March she sailed from St. Louis, with about one hundred and seventy-five persons on board, of whom about ninety were Saints, including a number of the passengers who had crossed the Atlantic in the Kennebec. There were also some Saints from St. Louis and others from the State of Mississippi. The other Kennebec passengers came up the river subsequently on other boats.
The Saluda made but slow progress as the floating masses of ice in the river made navigation very dangerous, but she finally reached Brunswick, about fifty miles below
Lexington, where Elder Eli B. Kelsy and ten other brethren landed to buy cattle. When the boat arrived at Lexington, on Sunday, April 4th, she was met by immense masses of ice, and the captain and boat crew, although making desperate efforts to proceed, found it impossible to make headway against the current and ice. Consequently, after fighting with the stubborn elements for several hours, they were compelled to cross the river and tie up for the night on the opposite side from Lexington. On the fifth the boat recrossed the river to Lexington, through the still floating ice, which broke the paddle wheels, making repairs necessary before the journey could be resumed.
On Friday morning, April 9th, 1852, the Saluda, which had been lying at the port of Lexington since the 5th, made another effort to get under way, the ice by this time having ceased running. But in getting up steam to round a point just above Lexington, the engineers carelessly let the boilers get dry and red hot; and as the engines started, and the pumps forced the cold water in, the boilers burst to pieces with a tremendous noised, as the paddle wheels were making their second or third revolution. The explosion, which was heard and felt in ever part of the city of Lexington, completely wrecked the whole boat, threw her chimneys and part of the boilers and timbers in every direction, and destroyed the freight of the passengers, and the cargo generally. The boat sank ten minutes after the explosion.
'We have not heart to attempt a description of the scene,' writes the editor of the Lexington Express. 'Twenty-six mangled corpses collected together, and as many more with limbs broken and torn off, and bodies badly scalded -- wives and mothers frantic at the loss of husbands and children -- husbands and bereaved orphans engaged in searching among the dead and dying for wives and parents -- are scenes which we can neither behold nor describe; yet such a scene was presented to the citizens of Lexington on Friday -- good Friday -- a day forever memorable in the annals of Christianity as the day that witnessed the redemption of man from endless death, and which will long be remembered by the passengers on that ill-fated Saluda as a day of sorrow and privation. * * * The probability is that the number of killed and badly wounded is about one hundred. * * * Persons who witnessed the explosion say that several persons were blown a considerable distance up the bluff; one man, standing some distance on the shore was struck by a piece of timber and instantly killed.'
Captain Bell was blown half way up a steep embankment, together with the iron safe, in which the boats papers were kept; it was broken all to pieces, and the captain was killed.
Most of the baggage belonging to the emigrants was destroyed, but some of the merchandise on board, packed in tight barrels, and some iron ware, were saved.
During the night of April 8th -- the night preceding the morning on which the disaster took place -- the fine steamboat Isabel had come up the river, and had tied up at a point a short distance below where the Saluda lay. The passengers and crew of the Isabel were eyewitnesses of the explosion, and saw the bodies, and pieces of the doomed boat flying through the air; they made heroic efforts to recover the bodies of those who were killed, as they floated past, but only a few of them were seen and secured. Immediately after the accident, Captain Miller of the Isabel, generously offered a free passage to the Bluffs, with provisions, to all who wished to go. Many accepted of the noble offer, and in three hours after the explosion had taken place, they were on their way up the river; the remainder, including the wounded and their immediate relatives and friends, remained behind. The citizens of Lexington and vicinity promptly assembled to adopt measures for the relief of the sufferers and such survivors as were stripped of their goods and supplies. C. R. Morehead, Esquire, was called to the chair, and John T. Pigoot appointed secretary. A committee was appointed to raise means, another to bury the dead, a third to take care of the sick, and a special committee to take care of the orphans. The sum of three hundred dollars was immediately subscribed by the city, and fiver hundred by the citizens for the burial of the dead, the care and comfort of the wounded and the relief of the distressed survivors. The ladies of Lexington also took a very active part in affording relief to the wounded females, laying out the dead, and securing protection for the children who were saved. Subsequently more means was raised, and the citizens throughout treated the unfortunate Saints with the greatest kindness and humanity. In appreciation of this, Elders Kelsey, Smoot, Dunbar and David J. Ross, united in a card of thanks to the citizens for their generous and noble conduct.
Elder Kelsey, who heard of the explosion while doing business at Gallatin, Daviess County, Missouri, sixty miles north of Lexington, hastened to the scene of the disaster, where he arrived on Sunday, April the eleventh. He immediately visited the wounded, and gave them such aid and comfort as was within his power. Elder A. O. Smoot was with them already, having come up on the steamer Isabel, and witnessed the explosion. Elder Kelsey endeavored to find out the exact number of the persons killed and wounded, but in consequence of so many leaving so quickly and promiscuously on the Isabel, the true number and names of all the killed could not be ascertained, nor has such information been obtained since, so far as the writer of this article has been able to learn. Elder Kelsey reported the following names of Saints killed:
Brother Rollins, and two children from Mississippi; two sisters Bailey, from Cambridge; Helen Dunbar (wife of William C. Dunbar) and two children (Euphemia, aged six years, and Franklin Lorenzo, aged one year), from Scotland; Sister Harry (wife of Owen Harry) from Wales; Brother J. Sargent, and his little son, of Newbury (the little boy's body was not found), Elder Whitehead of Brimingham, his mother, wife and two children (bodies not found), Elder Duncan Campbell, his wife and two children, of Greenock, Scotland (some of the bodies not found); and perhaps four or five others.
Among the Saints who were severely wounded were the following: Sister Rachel Rollins, of Council Bluffs, and John T. Mitchell, of Mississippi, who subsequently had their legs amputated; Owen Harry, who was badly scalded; Sister Sarah McKeachie (wife of William McKeachie), whose spine was injured; and Agnes Gillespie (wife of Alexander Gillespie), whose face and neck were badly scalded. These are who were seriously hurt.
Besides the names given by Elder Kelsey, the Lexington Express published the following names of killed and wounded, most of whom were non-Mormons: Captain F. T. Bell, and the second clerk of the vessel, (bodies were sent to St. Louis for interment) Mr. Laynell, barkeeper; Mr. Nash, of Portland, Iowa; Josiah Clency, second engineer; E. Shaffer, Mr. Legatt, S. Wagley, Jonathan Brock and a negro, not named. The same paper gave the following names of persons who were lost, but whose bodies were not found: J. N. McCallister, of Boone County, Missouri; William H. Bridges, of New York, the Yankee comedian of the McFarland troupe; C. Labargo and Lewis Tabo, pilots; Mr. Evans, first engineer, and two colored firemen; Of the wounded not named by Elder Kelsey, the Express mentions: Wesley Pogue, with nose broken; George Marr, left arm amputated; Peter Conrad, part owner of the vessel, dangerously injured. Anthony Perkinmeyer, badly wounded, and Thomas Huff, John Welch, W. Brown, Michael Ambuston, William Hendley, Charles Evans (a carpenter), Fredrick Schultz, David J. Ross, W. McGee, William C. Dunbar and Duncan Kelsey Campbell (a child), all slightly wounded. The one last named was the second son of Duncan Campbell, and the only one of the family left, all the rest being killed in the explosion. (See Millennial Star, Vol. XIV. pp.41, 154, 220, 283) . . . .
. . . The Saluda disaster is really the only accident of any consequence by water that has befallen a company of Latter-day Saints in emigrating from Europe, and we have every reason to believe that Providence was in their favor to a great extent even in that case, or a much greater number would most certainly have lost their lives. . . ."
Cont., 13:9 (July 1892), pp.408-10, 414
"Sat. 10. [Jan. 1852] -- The ship Kennebec sailed from Liverpool, England, with 333 Saints, under the direction of John S. Higbee. It arrived at New Orleans March 11th
."
CC, p.45
(source abbreviations)