Ezra T. Benson: The Lord's Miraculous Rescue When Their Boat Capsized in Hawaii (1864)

In 1864, Elder Ezra T. Benson, then an Apostle, accompanied fellow apostle Lorenzo Snow, Joseph F. Smith, and two other elders on a special mission to the Sandwich (Hawaiian) Islands. While there, the Lord miraculously intervened to spare Ezra and the other missionaries' lives when their boat capsized. Despite the danger, all were preserved, and Elder Benson continued his labors among the Saints in the islands. His westward travels had reached their farthest point on that mission; five years later, at only fifty-eight, a heart attack brought his mortal ministry to a close. His biographers noted that, 'stricken as he was in the full bloom of manhood, Ezra T. Benson in the prime of his mortal career had reached his full maturity in wisdom' and 'had crowded into his short life more rich experiences than most men do in a lifetime.' President Wilford Woodruff declared of him, 'He has been true and faithful unto death and he will receive a crown of life.' The rescue is a faith-promoting witness that the Lord preserves His servants in the perils of the deep, that they may finish the work He has given them.