G. C. Dream of the Prophet Joseph Smith
Published October 12, 2026 at 6:34 AM
Contributed by
Millennial Star Research
While waiting in San Francisco for a ship to take ten Elders to the Sandwich Islands in 1850, the narrator dreamed that he and his fellow missionaries were unable to lift their ship's anchor with a windlass. The Prophet Joseph Smith appeared in a dream, walked to the forecastle, prayed, and then instructed the narrator to pull up the anchor, which then came up with ease. The Prophet taught that faith and prayer could accomplish great works.
In Their Own Words
“One night, after we had been one week aboard, I dreamed that I was on board a vessel, and that the Elders who were my companions and myself were amidships and were turning a windlass for the purpose of lifting the anchor which seemed to be fast in the mud. The cable that we were trying to wind on the windlass ran forward to the forecastle and over the bow. All our efforts, however, did not appear to have any effect on the anchor. While we were engaged in this labor I thought that the Prophet Joseph came walking forward from the quarter deck and as he came up to where I stood he told me to accompany him. He was dressed in white. He walked forward to the forecastle on which he stepped and I followed him. He knelt down and prayed a few minutes aloud that the anchor might be lifted. After he had finished his prayer, I thought he told me to take hold of the rope and pull the anchor up. To my great surprise it was pulled up with the greatest ease. After witnessing this I spoke to him, and said, “I wish I was in possession of such faith.“ He replied that it was my privilege, and that I ought to have it; that I would need it to preserve me from pestilence and the judgments that were about to be sent forth on the nations.”
— George Q. Cannon, The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star
Sources & References
The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star (Manchester, later Liverpool, England, May 1840–1970), 16 December 1897 (Vol. 59, No. 50). https://archive.org/details/per_utah-and-the-mormons_the-latter-day-saints-millennial-star_1897-12-16_59_50 (account extracted verbatim from the issue's Internet Archive OCR text; research confidence: high) Full first-person account: The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star, 16 December 1897 (Vol. 59, No. 50), p. 788 https://archive.org/details/per_utah-and-the-mormons_the-latter-day-saints-millennial-star_1897-12-16_59_50
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