| 604 and sprang up. He had placed his own hands high upon his breast, his left hand clasping his right, he died as he had lived, calm and resigned without a struggle or an emotion.
I never saw a more pleasant corpse in my life, after we had dressed it in a neat burial robe, we wrapt it in a large winding sheet and carried it on deck; a plank was laid in the starboard gangway, on it was prepared a piece of canvass, in this we laid it and sewed it up; to his feet was attached a bag of sand of about 60 pounds weight. Then the topgallant sails were furled, the courses hauled up, and the main and mizzen topsails were hove aback, the noble ship stopped her headway, and lay in gentle motion, as if to witness the solemn scene. The American flag was hoisted to half-mast as a signal that one of her noble countrymen had gone the way of all the earth. Then her generous crew gathered around and with uncovered heads listened in breathless silence to a very appropriate prayer made by Brother Rogers then they gently raised the end of the plank till the corpse slid off and struck in the water feet foremost. My eyes followed him as he sank till a white speck vanished in the blue waters below, this was in latitude 21-34 north Longitude 26-11 west from Greenwich.
Reflections-I believe the weight of sand was sufficient to sink him below the reach of all ravenous fish, and the salt at that depth strong enough to preserve him from putrefaction, and there he will remain entire and unmolested till the morn of the first resurrection, then he will come forth. My views from recent information are entirely changed from what they used to be respecting burying the dead at sea. From the fabulous stories I used to hear, I did suppose the sharks destroyed every corpse that was put into the ocean. But from my better judgment I know this is erroneous, for sharks are afraid and will flee from anything white in the water. And if a proper weight is attached to a corpse it will sink so low, that the compression of the water is so great that it will kill any fish to go down to it. One of these whalemen told me he was lancing a whale and he sounded and carried the lance with him, he went to such a depth that the lance pole, which was made of dry ash timber was completely saturated with water as if it had been sunk for months.
Thus ended an intimacy with one who had rendered himself doubly dear to me by an intimate acquaintance. I have met but few men in my life with whom I could exchange feelings, reciprocate joys and sorrows, as we pass down the step of life, more sympathetically than with Brother Hanks. A few days before his death I asked him if I had at any time violated the pledge I made him before we left Nauvoo, (of standing by him as a friend) he assured me I had not; this to me is a source of satisfaction.
Nov. 6th. We are now running for the Cape De Verde Islands and expect to be there in 2 or 3 days; we expect to touch there and send letters. We have had a remarkable passage thus far; no severe storms nor calms, and fair winds mostly. The officers say it is the most remarkable one they ever knew, and they frankly give it as their opinion, that it is an answer to the prayers of the Mormons they have on board.
We have thus far been treated with great kindness by officers, passengers and crew.-The captain is a frank open-hearted man, but I expect he has no bump of reverence, and has hardly seen the inside of a meeting house in his life. He has thus far given us no privilege of preaching on the Sabbath, but religious controversies are common every day with passengers and crew. The sailors are rather a wild set, but still there is some hope. Doctor Winslow is quite a gentleman, and I should think a man of skill in his profession, but rather skeptical in his religious views. He converses with us very freely on religious topics, and on the whole thinks our religion a pretty good one. His wife is a lady of refinement and taste and I think an excellent woman; is very familiar and free in conversation, they have three very pretty children, Charles is the oldest, four years old, Lizzy his sister is two years and a half old. The other is an infant. They have a large terrapin or land tortoise on board, he was brought from the Galipagos [Galapagos] Islands in the same ship. Children if you look on the atlas I sent you by Brother, Young, you will see them on the equator west of Quito, this tortoise is very docile and strong, he measured forty four inches on circumference. In pleasant weather these two children will get on to his shell and ride him about the deck; it is an odd sight, and I think it would please you. They have an Irish maid of about thirty. She is a Catholic. Mr. Lincoln and wife are the other passengers, he is a carpenter. They are Baptists, and perhaps may be Mormons yet. They are quite liberal in sentiment, and think the church ought to enjoy the gifts now as well as anciently. They were all very kind to Brother Hanks and daily sent him nice cakes, &c. As to our health, Brothers Rogers and Grouard were some seasick at first, but now their appetites are good. As for myself I never
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