Canute Peterson's Deliverance from the Winter and Vision of the Captain
Published October 13, 2026 at 5:29 AM
Contributed by
Millennial Star Research
In December 1853, Canute Peterson was serving as a missionary in Copenhagen, Denmark. The winter was severe and the harbor frozen, making travel difficult. A sea captain, Captain Thoreson, arrived and related to Peterson that he had seen a man in a vision twice, both times instructed by the visitor to go to Copenhagen and fetch 'my servant, Canute Peterson' to return with him to Norway. Peterson returned with the captain. Later, during a perilous voyage near a dangerous point of land, Peterson offered prayer, and in response, the wind changed, saving the vessel from potential wreck.
In Their Own Words
“In the month of December, 1853, I was laboring as a missionary in Copenhagen, Denmark. The winter was very severe, and the harbor was frozen up, so that no vessels could get in or out. One day a sea captain, named Thoreson, came to me and said: 'I have had a very strange experience. I have been to Norway, and while there I saw a man in a vision, and he told me to go to Copenhagen and get his servant, Canute Peterson, and take him back with me to Norway. I did not know who Canute Peterson was, nor where he lived, but I felt impressed to come here, and I have been looking for you.' I was surprised at this, but I felt that it was of the Lord, and I told him I would go with him. We started on our journey, and after we had been out at sea for some time, we encountered a very severe storm. The wind was blowing a gale, and the vessel was in great danger of being wrecked upon a dangerous point of land. The captain and the mate were very much alarmed, and they did not know what to do. I went into my cabin and prayed to the Lord, and asked Him to save us. While I was praying, I felt a calm assurance that we would be saved. I came out of my cabin and told the captain that we would be safe. He looked at me with astonishment, and said: 'How do you know?' I told him that I had prayed to the Lord, and that He had heard my prayer. The wind suddenly changed, and we were carried safely past the dangerous point of land. The captain was very much impressed by this, and he said: 'I believe that your God is a God of power.' When we arrived in Norway, the captain told his friends about the vision he had seen, and about the way in which we had been saved from the storm, and many of them were interested in the message which I had to deliver.”
— Canute Peterson, as recorded in the Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star, Vol. 65, No. 3
Sources & References
The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star (Manchester, later Liverpool, England, May 1840–1970), 15 January 1903 (Vol. 65, No. 3). https://archive.org/details/per_utah-and-the-mormons_the-latter-day-saints-millennial-star_1903-01-15_65_3 (account extracted verbatim from the issue's Internet Archive OCR text; research confidence: high) Full first-person account: The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star, 15 January 1903, Vol. 65, No. 3, pp. 36-37 https://archive.org/details/per_utah-and-the-mormons_the-latter-day-saints-millennial-star_1903-01-15_65_3
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