own, so the
appointment was not made.

On the 28th of April, the baggage of the Missionaries was put aboard the
'Union Galley', Capt. Moberley, with instructions that Boehler and his
companions should join her at Portsmouth. Neisser was to go with them
to Georgia, and from there, as opportunity offered, to St. Thomas, but
while the ship lay at Portsmouth other instructions reached him, and
Oglethorpe kindly made no objection to his withdrawing his box and
staying behind, though he did not quite understand it.

On the 15th of May, Peter Boehler, George Schulius, and the lad Simon
Peter Harper, left London, but finding the ship not yet ready to sail,
they, by Oglethorpe's instructions, went to Southampton where some of
the vessels were lying.

Returning to Portsmouth they embarked on May 22nd, and soon found they
were "to dwell in Sodom and Gomorrah" during their voyage. On the 30th
the fleet sailed to Southampton for the soldiers, and when they came
aboard four days later "Sodom and Gomorrah were fully reproduced." As
the ships lay off Spithead a conspiracy was discovered,--the soldiers
on one vessel had planned to kill their officers, take what money they
could find, and escape to France. During the voyage there were several
fights among the soldiers, or between them and the sailors, and in one
drunken riot a soldier cut off a young girl's hand. "The Lord was our
defense and shield, and we were among them like Daniel in the midst of
the lions," wrote Boehler, for the quiet, Bible-reading Moravians found
little to like in their rough associates, who cared for them just as
little, and wished they could be thrown overboard.

The ships put to sea July 16th and reached the Madeiras on the 29th,
where they were detained until the 8th of August. Boehler and Schulius
went on shore a number of times, were courteously treated by the most
prominent Catholic priest there, climbed a mountain for the exercise,
and particularly enjoyed their escape from turmoil and confusion. The
captain, who had taken a dislike to them, tried to prevent their leaving
the ship, but Oglethorpe stood their friend, and ordered that they
should have entire liberty. For Boehler, as for many who had preceded
him, Georgia and Carolina were to be a school where great life lessons
would be learned. Fresh from the University halls of Jena, he had met
the students of Oxford on equal footing, quickly winning their respect
and admiration, but these soldiers a