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Sam Brannon and the Brooklyn Saints

Paul H. Peterson

The Brooklyn Saints were a group of some 220 Mormons residing in the eastern United States who traveled by sea to California. Following Brigham Young's advice to go west, they united under the leadership of Samuel Brannan and made a 17,000-mile voyage from New York City to California. Of the Latter-day Saints going westward in 1846--the Camp of Israel that went to the Great Salt Lake Valley, the Mormon Battalion, and the Mississippi Saints--the Brooklyn Saints alone traveled by sea.

Apostle Orson Pratt first issued the call to eastern Saints to join the general Exodus westward. Angered at 16 years of persecution and convinced that Latter-day Saints would not find contentment in the United States, Pratt urged congregations everywhere to "be determined to flee out of Babylon, either by land or by sea" (History of the Church 7:520-522). In accord with Brigham Young's instruction, Samuel Brannan, publisher of the Church newspaper in New York City, was appointed to head the expedition. The ambitious Brannan, anticipating the eventual establishment of a Mormon headquarters on the Pacific coast, viewed the journey as an opportunity to gain influence and wealth. Conversely, Brigham Young envisioned Mormon settlers establishing not a permanent settlement but a way station in California where arriving Saints could rest and resupply themselves before making the final journey to Salt Lake City.

Of the 230 who sailed, all but 12 were Latter-day Saints. There were 70 men, 60 women, and 100 children. Adults paid $75 and children $37.50. They brought books, a printing press, guns, 800 pounds of paying freight bound for the Sandwich Islands, and enough agricultural and mechanical tools to equip 800 laborers. All of the people and cargo were crammed onto the ship Brooklyn, which Brannan had leased at the inexpensive rate of $1200 per month plus expenses. An average-size ship for its day, Brooklyn was 125 feet long and 28 feet across the beam and weighed about 445 tons.

Brooklyn sailed from New York harbor on February 4, 1846. Four days out, the ship encountered a severe gale that its experienced captain, Abel Richardson, pronounced the worst he had ever seen. Surviving the storm with the loss of only two cows, they proceeded south through the Atlantic toward Cape Horn. After three weeks, the ship passed near the Cape Verde Islands, off the African coast. Given the winds and currents, this was the most efficient route to California. When passing the equator, they were becalmed for three days. Boredom soon gave way to apprehension as they approached the dreaded Cape Horn. Captain Richardson avoided difficulty by bearing directly south several miles in order to gain longitude west. The ship was soon sailing north along the coast of Chile.