Saints on the Charles Buck Healed of Sickness Through Priesthood Ordinances

On January 17, 1855, the clipper ship Charles Buck, under the command of Captain Smalley, departed Liverpool, England, carrying 403 Saints. This group included a group of Scandinavian emigrants led by Elder Eric G. M. Hogan and a group of British Saints previously reshipped from the Helios, all under the presidency of Elder Richard Ballantyne. Before departure, the emigrants suffered from a long detention in Liverpool, poor living conditions, and a scanty diet, which left their health significantly impaired. Upon boarding, many were further prostrated by seasickness. Despite these difficult circumstances, the Saints relied on their faith; through the blessings of the Lord attending the ordinances of the laying on of hands and the anointing with oil, coupled with the administration of medicines as the spirit of wisdom dictated, the sick were restored to health. Throughout the voyage, only three children died, one of whom was a seven-year-old boy who drowned after becoming entangled in ship ropes about a week after sailing. One birth also occurred during the trip, and the company arrived at New Orleans around March 14, 1855.

Fuller account of this event (as retold in The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star, Vol. 17, No. 19 (12 May 1855), p. 302):

EIGHTY-SECOND COMPANY. -- Charles Buck, 403 souls. On the seventeenth of January, the clipper ship Charles Buck, Captain Smalley, sailed from Liverpool, England, with four hundred and three souls on board including the remainder (about seventy) of the Scandinavian emigration for the season, in charge of Elder Eric G. M. Hogan, and the remainder of the British Saints who had been reshipped from the Helios, the whole under the presidency of Elder Richard Ballantyne, who had recently arrived in England from his mission to Hindostan. The emigrants, who sailed on the Charles Buck, were somewhat depressed in spirits, because of their long detention in Liverpool; and by living in unhealthy localities, and on a scanty diet, their health was much impaired. When they came on board seasickness also prostrated many, but through the blessings of the Lord attending the ordinance of the laying on of hands, and anointing with oil, together with such medicines as the spirit of wisdom dictated the brethren to administer, the sick were raised to health, and only three children died during the voyage. One of these was a boy, seven years of age, who fell overboard and was drowned, about a week after sailing, having become entangled in some ropes. One birth occurred during the trip. Whatever sickness and debility they suffered was chiefly occasioned through the want of something nutritious and desirable to eat. About the fourteenth of March, 1855, the Charles Buck arrived at New Orleans from which city the emigrants continued the journey up the Mississippi River on the sixteenth, on board the fine steamer Michigan.