Miraculous protection and deliverance of the Julia Ann company

On September 7, 1855, the American barque Julia Ann departed Sydney, Australia, carrying 56 passengers, including 28 Latter-day Saints, bound for San Francisco. Among the Saints were American missionaries John S. Eldredge and James S. Graham. On October 4, 1855, the vessel struck a coral reef near the Scilly Isles at approximately 11.5 knots. The ship broke apart, and amidst the terror, five individuals perished: Sister Martha Humphries, Sister Eliza Harris and her six-month-old son Lister, and two children, Mary Humphries and 10-year-old Marion Anderson. The survivors managed to reach a desolate, uninhabited island where they subsisted on turtles, shellfish, and coconuts for nearly two months, organizing themselves into a common brotherhood and holding regular Church meetings. The rescue was credited to the faith and spiritual impressions of passenger John McCarthy; after one dream warned against sailing to Samoa, a second vision guided the rescue boat toward the Society Islands. The crew rowed to Bora Bora, where they secured the ship Emma Packer to return and rescue the remaining castaways on December 3, 1855. John S. Eldredge recorded his profound gratitude for this miraculous deliverance, acknowledging that the mercy of God endureth forever.

Fuller account of this event (in the witness’s own words):

One of their Elders had a dream or vision. He saw the boat successfully launched upon her long voyage, and for a day or two making satisfactory progress. Another leaf in the vision, and the boat is seen floating bottom up, and the drowned bodies of her crew floating around her. This tale, so wrought upon the superstitions that not a man would volunteer to go with me, and I was reluctantly compelled to change my plan. I then gave strict orders that there should be no more visions told in public unless they were favorable ones, and first submitted to me for my approval. After some days the same Mormon Elder came to me having had another vision. I asked him if it was a good one. He said it was. He saw the boat in the same place, but this time she was sailing along beautifully, and all on board were happy. I told him that was a good vision, and he might tell it to the people. He did so, and the effect was magical. The men came forward and volunteered, and we were soon ready for sea. We sailed from Sydney on the 7th of September, 1855. On the 3rd of October, at 9 p.m., the ship struck a coral reef. The shock was terrible. The ship was going at the rate of eleven knots an hour. She struck with such force that she was lifted bodily out of the water and thrown upon the reef. The scene that followed was one of the most heart-rending I have ever witnessed. The screams of the women and children were enough to melt a heart of stone. The ship was breaking up, and the sea was making a clean breach over her. I saw that there was no hope for the ship, and my only thought was to save the passengers. I ordered the boats to be lowered, but they were all smashed to pieces by the falling spars and the heavy sea. We were then left to our own resources. I saw a small rock about a hundred yards from the ship, and I called for volunteers to swim to it with a rope. Several of the men, including some of the Mormon Elders, volunteered. They succeeded in reaching the rock, and by means of the rope, we were able to get all the passengers and crew to the rock, except for five who were unfortunately drowned. We remained on this desolate rock for two months, subsisting on turtles, shellfish, and coconuts. We organized ourselves into a company, and held regular meetings for prayer and worship. Our faith was our only support. Finally, through the persistent efforts of one of our number, John McCarthy, who had a vision of a rescue boat, we were able to secure a vessel, the Emma Packer, from the island of Bora Bora, and were safely rescued on the 3rd of December, 1855.