Early Missionaries Who Circumnavigated the Globe
In this post, Korben McBride highlights the perilous sea journeys of early Latter-day Saint missionaries as recounted in journals and other collections held in the library.
When 19th-century missionaries and emigrating converts looked at the seas and oceans, they didn’t see luxurious cruise ships or speedboats or yacht clubs. To quote maritime historian Lincoln Paine, “We see pleasure where our forebears saw peril.”1
These perils were compounded when early Saints faced lengthy voyages that took them over every ocean across the entire globe. At least six 19th-century missionaries are known to have circled the globe aboard sailing vessels. These courageous missionaries recorded the perils and wonders they witnessed in personal journals and letters that are now preserved in the Church History Library.
Below are the names of those six missionaries and summaries of their circumnavigating voyages. Clicking on a missionary’s name will take you to his page in the Missionary Database. You can access and read their journals digitally by clicking on the collection descriptions underneath each entry.
Noah Rogers sailed from New Bedford, Massachusetts, aboard the whaleship Timoleon on October 9, 1843, bound for French Polynesia. The 203-day voyage took him around the Cape of Good Hope and through the Tasman Sea, and he arrived at Tubuai on May 4, 1844. He stayed on the island for a little over a year.
On July 3, 1845, Rogers sailed east from Papeete, Tahiti, aboard the whaleship Three Brothers. After 130 days at sea, Rogers became the first missionary to circumnavigate the globe eastward when he arrived at Nantucket, Massachusetts, on November 6, 1845.
In addition to circling the globe, Rogers rounded both capes—a significant achievement. Passage around Cape Horn was particularly laborious and hazardous thanks in part to the “islands of ice in [the] region as high as mountains.”2
Rogers’s journal contains an account of his missionary service and voyages (MS 1389).
Typescript summary of Rogers’s experiences on the Timoleon, William F. Carter portrait
William Carter and 12 other missionaries sailed from San Francisco aboard the ship Monsoon on January 29, 1853. Five of the 13 missionaries in Carter’s group circumnavigated the globe. They arrived at Calcutta, India, on April 26, 1853.
Carter was released from his mission after contracting typhoid, then found passage aboard the ship John Gilpin on July 4, 1853. Believing he was close to death, he wrote, “I looked around the Ship, and a dark Gloom Came over me and the Ship looked mor like a tomb than a Ship[.] I could not a Count for my felings[.] I had my doubts about ever Seing America again.”3
He became the first missionary to circumnavigate the globe westward when he arrived at Boston, Massachusetts, on November 10, 1853. In total, Carter spent eight months of 1853 aboard a ship.
Carter’s journal contains an account of his missionary service and voyages (MS 479).
Richard Ballantyne sailed with William F. Carter from San Francisco aboard the Monsoon on January 29, 1853. He arrived at Calcutta, India, on April 26, 1853.
On July 25, 1854, he sailed west from Madras, India, aboard the ship Royal Thistle. In mid-September 1854, off the Cape of Good Hope, the ship met “a terrible tempest,” which caused the sea to rise “very high, and the fury of its tumultuous and white foaming billows presented a truly fearful appearance.”4 The Royal Thistle arrived at London, England, in December after 134 grueling days at sea. Then Ballantyne sailed from Liverpool aboard the ship Charles Buck on January 17, 1855, landing at New Orleans on March 14, 1855.
Ballantyne’s journals contain an account of his missionary service and voyages (MS 467).
Samuel Woolley sailed with Carter and Ballantyne from San Francisco aboard the Monsoon on January 29, 1853, arriving at Calcutta, India, on April 26, 1853.
On November 1, 1854, he sailed west from Calcutta aboard the John Gilpin and arrived at Boston on February 12, 1855.
While aboard the Monsoon, Woolley made several sketches of coastlines and islands they passed by, including this sketch of Barren Island, an active volcano in the Andaman Sea.
Sketch by Samuel A. Woolley
Truman Leonard also sailed with Carter’s group from San Francisco aboard the Monsoon on January 29, 1853, and arrived at Calcutta, India, on April 26, 1853.
In November 1855, he sailed west from Bombay, India, aboard an unknown vessel bound for Liverpool. On March 23, 1856, Leonard sailed from Liverpool aboard the ship Enoch Train and arrived at Boston on May 1, 1856.
A collection of Leonard’s letters can be found in the Church History Library (MS 708). However, he did not write them during his voyages, and the letters do not contain details about his travels on the Monsoon or the Enoch Train.
Amos Musser sailed from San Francisco aboard the Monsoon on January 29, 1853. On the night of March 16, 1853, near the coast of present-day Vietnam, Musser reported a storm “attended with sharp peals of thunder [and] vivid lightnings[. T]he air was full of electric matter. . . . There appeared . . . a lamp or lantern on all three of the [ship’s] mast Heads.”5 This description reveals that Musser and his fellow missionaries witnessed the weather phenomenon known as “St. Elmo’s fire.” He arrived at Calcutta, India, on April 26, 1853.
On March 3, 1856, he sailed west from Calcutta aboard the ship Viking and arrived at London 138 days later. On March 28, 1857, Musser sailed from Liverpool aboard the ship George Washington and arrived at Boston on April 20, 1857.
Musser’s journals contain an account of his missionary service and voyages (MS 8140).