Preservation of Continental and British Saints on the ship Caroline

Latter-day Saint emigrants from the Swiss, German, Italian, and Dutch missions, including groups led by Elders Nebeker, Spencer, and Joseph Weiler, reached London in time to secure passage on the ship Caroline. They arrived on the morning of May 2, 1866; the report said that had they arrived only three days later, they would have faced quarantine because of cholera outbreaks reported in Rotterdam and Hamburg, along with heavy expenses and potential exposure to infection. The timely arrival spared the Saints and the Church those burdens. The account attributed their preservation to the Lord’s guidance and to obedience to the counsels of Church leaders. It also names Samuel H. Hill, W. W. Raymond, J. S. Fullmer, and Nebeker and Spencer in connection with the account.

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

Elders Nebeker and Spencer, having in charge the Saints from the Swiss, German and Italian Mission, and Elder Joseph Weiler having in charge the Saints from Amsterdam and Rotterdam, landed in London on the morning of the 2nd, in good health and fine spirits, this being all the emigration expected this season from that quarter. We were pleased to meet with these Saints, but did not realize what the Lord had done for us and them, until two or three days had passed away, when we saw announced in the London papers, that cholera had made its appearance in Rotterdam—it having previously appeared in Hamburg—and that emigrants from both of those ports would be compelled to content themselves in quarantine for several days previous to being permitted to land in England. Had our people arrived three days later, they would undoubtedly have been obliged to comply with these restrictions, which would have resulted in heavy expenses, which neither the people nor the Church could well afford to meet under existing circumstances. We could plainly see the hand of the Lord manifested on behalf of the Saints arriving from the Continent, pursuant to the counsels given to them by the servants of God, not withstanding the many apparently unfavorable circumstances under which they were compelled to labor.