Sister Burnham was the widow of George Albion Burnham, who had received the Gospel during the opening of the mission by President George Q. Cannon and his co-laborers. Brother Burnham had been valiant in defense of the Elders. At a period of cruel persecution in Honolulu; and his manly battle in rescuing Phillip B. Lewis and William Farrar from the hands of a drunken mob, endeared him and his family to the Elders of the Hawaiian mission. On our second mission we found the widow in the depths of poverty, and resolved, on our release, to take the family home with us. To this end, President Smith gave me fifty dollars from the Salt Lake mission fund to aid in gathering Sister Burnham. On Saturday, October 15th we were still in sight of land, about eighty miles north of Oahu: no wind, a calm sea, and a full moon making a beautiful evening. At ten p.m., I was sitting on deck talking with the mate, Mr. Ferrier, when I noticed that the man on the forward watch acted strangely. I said to the mate, "That man wants to jump overboard." In a few minutes I went to my room, and had just taken off my shoes when I heard the mate call, "A man overboard!" I ran on deck, seized a rope, and threw it to the man, striking him on the head. He looked at me, and swam from the ship. I ran up the rigging, and watched him until a boat was lowered. Then I gave directions to the captain, and he with a speaking trumpet, directed the crew, until they picked him up. The man's name was Barstowe. The next morning Mr. Ferrier harpooned two sharks, one of them over eleven feet long--not a very pleasant prospect for a would-be suicide. Our passage was long and tedious, owing to the many calms that overtook us; yet on November 4th it became evident that we were nearing land; for the water had lost its clear blue color, and was becoming black and filthy. That day we saw a school of porpoises, rushing to and fro as if frightened, and casting up a wall of white spray as far north as the eye could see. We also saw several whales. It is a novel sight--these huge monsters sporting in the mighty deep, lashing the waves with their fan-shaped tails, and spouting columns of water high into the air! At noon the wind sprang up from the north, and steadily increased until at nine p.m. it blew a gale. The sea became very rough, the waves dashing over the cabin deck in great violence, and causing dishes and boxes to be rolled in confusion over the cabin floor. At midnight the storm suddenly ceased, and we could hear the waves breaking on a distant shore. The captain sounded, and finding we were in shoal water, cast anchor and waited for daylight.