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Land At Last

After nearly five months at sea, the Roman neared its Hawaiian destination in March of 1869. The crew had been successful with many barrels of sperm oil safely stowed in barrels below deck. Everyone had settled into the routine of life at sea; the prospect of their arrival in the Hawaiian Islands must have been exciting.

March 9, 1869

We have 195 barrels os sperm oil. It is a pleasant day. There is a ship in sight. We are almost to Honolulu. Prescott is out on deck. I have a little glash. Good by for To Day

 


Neither Laura nor Prescott had left the confines of the ship since leaving New Bedford exactly five months earlier. Surprisingly, other than a brief mention that they were almost to Honolulu on March 9, 1869, Laura's journal entries are 'business as usual' on the 13th and 14th of March. She wrote that she was reading a book on deck, that she had a little dog and that Prescott played with his rope while their father made a sail for the boat. These are the last words she wrote on board the Roman until the family joined Jared for their second "between seasons cruise south 'to the line'" from February 10 to 28, 1870.

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image of honolulu_diamond_head

Courtesy of Hawaii State Archives