The John Thain Biography at Welsh Mormon History provides more, tragic detail about the 1856 death of poor little Parley Lewis, son of John and Jane Vaughan Lewis aboard the S. Curling heading for America on the North Atlantic:
The health of the passengers, although good in the main, considering the weather, has not been without grievous exceptions. I regret to say that, notwithstanding myself, counsellers, and others devoted all our time to nourish the sick, especially the old, and the mothers of infants, by preserves, soups, sago, arrowroot, and all the well assorted stock you furnished, owing to a lack of energy in some to contend with and overcome sea-sickness, by coming to the air, themselves and babes suffered much, six of the latter have died, namely Joseph J. Davies, son of George W. Davies, of Cardiff, aged one year and five months, of inflammation of the lungs, on 28th of April; Hyrum Bassett, son of John Bassett, of Wales, 29th of April, aged ten months, of inflammation of the lungs; Joseph Thomas, son of William Thomas, of Milfordhaven, on the 8th of May, aged nine months and five days; Parley R. Lewis, son of John Lewis, of Tredegar, of cancer in the breast, aged seven months, on the 9th of May; John Davies, son of Evan D. Davies, of Glamorganshire, of consumption, aged twelve months. Three of the former, however, were so weakly, that the doctor said while inspecting them at Liverpool, they would not live ten days. Mothers might prolong the lives of their babes, did they keep them half the time on deck in the fresh air, but they keep them smothered up in their arms in blankets, inhaling each other's breath. Owing principally to this the chicken-pock broke out among the children, and in despite of all efforts to check its progress, in which the doctor of the ship and Captain Curling distinguished themselves, it spread throughout the whole of the ship, yet, by steady perseverence, and the blessing of God upon the ordinance of His Gospel, it has not proved fatal, but by this time all have either recovered or are recovering.
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| The Samuel Curling |
I had an ancestor come from Wales on the S Curling. I love this image of the ship and would like to hang it in my office. Do you have any source for the image? I have seen it on several sites but cannot seem to find an original source.
ReplyDeleteI got it off the internet likely from https://familysearch.org/photos/artifacts/13414643.
DeleteI don't know the original source, but the place to look would be Boston Maritime history museums and archives.