May 28th, 1838.
At Gravesend
Nothing strange happened during our journey here from London, except that a man was saved from death by water by God's gracious providence. He had climbed onto the side of the ship to draw water, but was suddenly thrown down into the water by a sailing rope blown by the wind. They immediately rushed to launch a boat to come to his aid. But this was so firm that it couldn't be dealt with so quickly; That's why the man, although he could swim a little, would have drowned in front of everyone if there hadn't been a fishing boat nearby that caught the injured man and brought him on board; for if he could swim straight away, the ship was going much too fast for him to be able to hold out until a boat could be sent to him.
Since this man had his family on board, it was said, out of consideration for his
The first Sunday we experienced on board fell during this trip. It was ordered by higher authority that, in the event that there was no minister of the Church of England or any other minister of the Word on board, the doctor should read the prayers. Because we were present, he wanted to transfer his commission to us; I was hesitant about giving my consent to this request, not so much because I considered reading the church prayers to be a violation of my conscience, but rather out of the wisdom of asserting our ecclesiastical position from the outset and not doing or admitting anything that might make the English, who know so little about our church, believe that I belonged to it; furthermore, in order to immediately counter all such demands for the future, and in general to prevent all indifference both on our side and on the other side.
Teichelmann, however, said that in the event of an emergency he would have no concerns, and so on the second Sunday, especially since the