May 28th, 1838.
At Gravesend(4), about a German mile from London, the steamer had left us the previous day and our ship had anchored. The governor [Gawler](5) also went ashore here again with the intention of getting back on board with his family in Plymouth(6). I can't say why we stayed here until today, perhaps because we were just waiting for the captain, who only came on board today. Based on our earlier observations, we had considered him to be a rude man, but to our shame and joy we have only now realized that we had judged too quickly, since he is a friendly and ( 004 ) completely decent man. In the afternoon the anchor was lifted and we went down the Thames with a favorable wind. But as soon as we got into the open sea and had to turn to the west, the same wind was unfavorable to us and remained so almost continuously until we came to Plymouth. Of course this delayed us for a long time and we didn't arrive in the port of Plymouth until the 4th of June.

Nothing strange happened during our journey here from London, except that a man was saved from death by water by God's gracious providence. He had climbed onto the side of the ship to draw water, but was suddenly thrown down into the water by a sailing rope blown by the wind. They immediately rushed to launch a boat to come to his aid. But this was so firm that it couldn't be dealt with so quickly; That's why the man, although he could swim a little, would have drowned in front of everyone if there hadn't been a fishing boat nearby that caught the injured man and brought him on board; for if he could swim straight away, the ship was going much too fast for him to be able to hold out until a boat could be sent to him.

Since this man had his family on board, it was said, out of consideration for his ( 005 ) wife, that a boy had fallen overboard; But what they wanted to prevent with this pious lie on the one hand, was achieved on the other hand, in that every mother of sons feared that it might be her son, and therefore they rushed onto the foredeck with trembling and fear until the deception was revealed to calm them down.

The first Sunday we experienced on board fell during this trip. It was ordered by higher authority that, in the event that there was no minister of the Church of England or any other minister of the Word on board, the doctor should read the prayers. Because we were present, he wanted to transfer his commission to us; I was hesitant about giving my consent to this request, not so much because I considered reading the church prayers to be a violation of my conscience, but rather out of the wisdom of asserting our ecclesiastical position from the outset and not doing or admitting anything that might make the English, who know so little about our church, believe that I belonged to it; furthermore, in order to immediately counter all such demands for the future, and in general to prevent all indifference both on our side and on the other side.

Teichelmann, however, said that in the event of an emergency he would have no concerns, and so on the second Sunday, especially since the ( 006 ) governor also wanted it, he read the church prayers both in the evening and in the morning, after which the governor's private secretary always read a sermon.