1873-03-30,From,SnowErastus,EnglandLiverpoolonBoardTheSSManhattanBoundfor,To,SnowElizabethRebeccaAshby,UtahStGeorge


On Board “S.S. Manhattan” [bound for Liverpool, England]

Sunday March 30th / 73 [Sunday 30 Mar 1873]

Mrs. Elisabeth R. Snow

Saint George Utah

My Beloved wife your letter of the 28th Feb [Friday 28 Feb 1873] addressed to Salt Lake was floundering along in the mud or stuck by the wayside until after my departure East and I was obliged to leave instruction for my letters to be forwarded to New York [New York City, New York] and after returning from Mass [Massachusetts] I began to despair of hearing any thing [anything] further from you and dear little Bertie [Herbert Hammond Snow] before sailing. But fortunately a few minutes before the ships sailing a gentleman of Bro Stains acquaintance came with letters for him and among them was yours remailed from Salt Lake to his care which I received with much satisfaction and its contents devoured eagerly.


I had telegraphed you the 5th March [Wednesday 5 Mar 1873] before leaving Salt Lake to learn of Herbert [Herbert Hammond Snow] and the family before leaving but the Opperator [Operator] straitway [straightway] after receiving my message left the office without returning your answer saying her mother was dying at Toqerville [Toquerville, Utah] and she must leave. I had been lead [led] to believe however, from Telegrams during our travels up that he was realy [really] better Then [than] your letter indicates that he was. You must have been greatly worn and energies wasted with such long anxiety and watchfullness [watchfulness] night and day, but God be thanked for the assurance you was [were] able to give in your letter that he was sensibly on the gain when you wrote and I trust ere this that both he and yourself are altogether renewed and happy with the rest of the family.


I will write and order the “Juvenile Instructor” sent to Libby as she desers [desires]. I will also write to Z.C.M.I. [Zion's Cooperative Merchantile Institution]. To send you a yard of No 8 Bolting Cloth as Bro. Wright desired to make up what he wanted for the new Bart and when it arrives you will please send to him for minute instructions as to how to put it together That is the length and relative amount of each No. and I shall rely on you to make it ready for him when It shall be needed.


Tell Georgiana [Georgiana Snow] I was pleased to get her letter and hope she will continue to write. It was a very good beginning. There was [were] several words incorrectly spelld [spelled], but she will improve in writing and spelling both. It would be good for her to write letters to some of her mates and ask them to criticise [critiquic] and correct her spelling on the same sheet and return it to her and she will ever afterward remember how to spell those words.

Now I must say a little about our voyage and myself. We have ten cabin passengers and a number of steerage ones besides about 100 Officers, seamen, cooks, waiters, etc. Our ship is 360 feet long by 98 ½ wide and is 3 story high or deep. Being a three [triple] decker about fifty feet 50 ft] high 22 ft in w idth has her boilers and engine about in the middle with fore and aft masts each mast is about 108 feet high and her three sails each to help the engine when the wind is favourable [favorable] and which are furled when the wind is adverse. Her engine propelles [propellers] a screw paddle of immense size (24 feet diameter) and power which turns in the water in [the] rear of the Ship and sends her forward at the rate from 9 to 14 miles per hour according to the state of the winds & waves. Her fires consume about 60 to 70 tons coal per day and although this is our eleventh day [11th day] out we do not expect to reach Liverpool before Tuesday morning [1 Apr 1873]. Total distance 3040 miles. We expect to call at Queenstown on the South Coast of Ireland tomorrow to discharge mails.


I was much seasick the first few days nor have I recovered so as to feel well as I do on land, but am able to eat (if I throw it up again, as I continue to do occassionally [ocassionally]) and sleep some but not sweetly; the noise of the engine and rooling [rolling] of the ship, especially in rough weather, of which we have had considerable, keeps my nervous system on the Tilt. Bro. Birch has not lost a meal during the voyage. Sister Schettler has been sick nearly all the way. Sister Little got her leg badly bruised and cut again at the edge of her birth [berth] by the tossing of the Ship so for several days she was confined to her room. I shall write again after landing and meeting our friends with love to all & kisses to your own dear self and all the children I am yours effectionately [affectionately] E. Snow [Erastus Snow]