Heading South Again

Not long after the children received their letters from their father in the Arctic, the Roman returned to Hawaii in early November. According to the Honolulu Harbormaster, the ship returned on November 1, 1869.

After this first Artic trip, several of the crew were discharged from the ship. On November 15, 1869 in Honolulu, Captain Jernegan filed discharge papers for thirteen crew members. One released was Francis Dougherty, first mate, who Laura mentioned in her journal. After transferring shipping oil to be freighted to New Bedford, outfitting the ship and signing on new crew members, the family once again boarded the Roman. This time they were bound on a five month voyage toward the Equator to look for whales.

Once again, the harbormaster records show that the Roman left for their "cruise to the line" on November 24, 1869. We can only guess why Laura did not write in her journal while the family was on their first 'between the season' cruise in the South Pacific. While in the Arctic, her father reported having received letters from her sent via other whaleships from Hawaii. Perhaps letter writing replaced journal writing during that stretch of time?

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Courtesy of Hawaii State Archives