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In Peril on the Sea

鈥淚n this volume, we find a narrative as relevant to our times as it was to the subject of author Kenneth Schaaf鈥檚 wonderfully researched work: a resolute band of nineteenth-century, Frisian Dutch 茅migr茅 families determined to find a better life in a new land. In Peril presents the reader, in page-turning dollops, with nothing less than the marvelous tale of the great 鈥楥oming to America鈥� experience and an epic paradigm of just who we were and how we came to be who we are as a nation. A great read indeed.鈥�
鈥擠onald Grady Shomette, Maritime Historian

鈥淭he Frisian immigrant journey recounted by Ken Schaaf discloses innumerable hardships from the very first day. The travelers endured unimaginable conditions in their determination to reach a land that offered freedom of worship and economic opportunities. Despite extraordinary challenges, God鈥檚 providential care is evident. It is an especially compelling story.鈥�
鈥擫eslie Dekoster Dennis, descendent of William & Mary survivor

From the Introduction

Our life鈥檚 journey sometimes takes us to places we never intended to go. We set our destination, establish our route, and make our reservations. But then the unexpected occurs, there is a delay, an accident, a reroute, a complete change of plans. This certainly was the case for a hapless band of Dutch travelers on their trip to America during the late winter and spring of 1853. A few turned back before it began. Others would soon regret not having done likewise. But like many journeys, once begun, there are few opportunities to go back or start over.

It is through a rich collection of found journals, letters, personal papers, nineteenth-century maps and nautical charts, period travel literature, and a host of newspaper accounts from both sides of the Atlantic that we follow a group of emigrant travelers on their perilous voyage, from their tightly woven Frisian heritage into a new American tapestry.

Accounts of life journeys have been around for as long as our race has felt compelled to move from one location to another, as in the Biblical account of the wanderings of the children of Israel, Chaucer鈥檚 Canterbury Tales, Longfellow鈥檚 Tales of the Wayside Inn, and even our contemporary travelogues. For the duration of the journey, there is an intersection of lives, a cultural exchange, a common shared experience. Then, suddenly, the trip is over, our travelers go in different directions, and their stories, repeated less and less often, are soon forgotten.

In Peter H. Wood鈥檚 thorough study of Winslow Homer鈥檚 painting, 鈥淕ulf Stream,鈥� he wrote, 鈥淭here is no older or richer artistic image than that of a boat and its occupants at the mercy of the mighty sea.鈥� With that analogy, he went on to suggest, 鈥淲e are each lost at sea in the modern world; we are ignored by remote ships and buffeted by passing squalls, and we have as much hope of controlling our fearful destiny as [Homer鈥檚] luckless mariner鈥� it will take Divine Providence to save us.鈥�

You and I are on our once-only life journey, traveling through time over unfamiliar seas. Our experiences, though common to all, are our adventures, our challenges. Although we sometimes think we are better equipped than generations past to handle what may come, our twenty-first century intellect and technology still appear inadequate to safely see us through what we are presented in life. We make choices along the way, and we like to believe we are in control. But where we begin, when, and with whom, are not of our volition. Our Creator, in His wisdom and knowledge, has determined the where, when, how, and with whom. Like the band of Frisian travelers who left their homes so many years ago, we are called to trust Him to pilot us through the journey, from start to finish.