June 22 - 23, 1862
Page 5 of 39
Sunday June 22, 1862
We have had splendid weather today such good weather that I have been homesick nearly all day. And an imagination I have been in a small town in the state of Massachusetts several times and I have caught the sound “I wish John were here today,” and I have wished himself there Darling Love.
Let us look forward with hope and confidence to the time when we shall again see each other. I hope and pray that success may be complete and speedy that our reunion may the sooner take place.
The wind has been light from S. W & W S W steering S E by E at 7 pm. We fell in with a wreck of a schooner the decks nearly all gone and the vessel full of water. I went to it in my Boat and as stood and gazed upon it. The thought passed through my mind where are those who once were on board of her? Are they alive have and safe or have they gone to the fathomless deep to remain until it shall give up its dead.
It made me feel sad to see such a sight. A noble vessel a sport to the wind & waves. We could see Belfast on the stern but could not tell the vessel’s name.
Latitude 35 51N Longitude 58 30 W
Monday June 23rd
Commences and ends with light wind from S.W. heading NSW and SSE at 10 am came up with another wreck. It proved to be the Sch. Gold Hunter of New London1. Both masts had been cut away and probably the pumps were choked so they could not pump. For we found them full of rats and it is not a great while since she was wrecked by all appearances, we took some of the iron work off and then left her.
Latitude 34° 17′ N, Longitude 57° 47′ W.
1 “Schooner Gold Hunter in the coastal trade, sailed for Virginia on the night of February 17th and was never afterward heard from. “ Source: The Fishermen’s Memorial and Record Book (n.p., n.d.), entry for “Schooner GOLD HUNTER,” Internet Archive, accessed [11/28/2025],
A memorial entry for Abigail LeBaron also notes that her husband was lost on the schooner Gold Hunter, which “sailed for Virginia out of Gloucester, Mass., on February 17, 1854, and was lost at sea before arriving.”
