After the time in the Falklands, the passengers experienced food poisoning from the wild fowl and so all the birds had to be thrown overboard. The ship went through a period of such calm that it began to run out of coal and had to burn furniture and other wood items in order to fuel the engines. One of the bride-ship women did in fact die during the passage. In real life she died before reaching the Falklands, but for the sake of the story’s pacing, I took the liberty of moving the smallpox scare and the woman’s death to a little later in the voyage.

I also portrayed the bride ship’s arrival in Victoria according to the accounts that have been recorded. Hundreds of men really did come down to the harbor to greet the women as they stepped ashore. The women had to walk through a gauntlet of cheering men. And surprisingly, yes, the story of Sophia and Pioneer really did happen. Pioneer proposed to Sophia on the spot, offered her two thousand pounds, and she accepted. The women ran to the government building, where they had to do their washing in front of the ogling men.

Finally, the ship’s surgeon really did leave the Tynemouth once he arrived to Vancouver Island, and he married one of the women from the ship who had possibly helped him nurse the sick while on board the Tynemouth, giving them occasion to get to know each other. The real ship’s surgeon eventually returned to England with his wife and lived there.

While Joseph and Mercy are completely fictional, I did draw inspiration from the love story of the real couple. As with any fiction, I added elements and backstory that helped to explore the great chasm between the social classes of that time. While it wasn’t my intention to portray Mercy as a weak woman, I did want to show how a poor woman of her era would have accepted her position at the bottom and wouldn’t have questioned those in authority over her the way we might today.

As the physical voyage took place, I also took my characters on a voyage of self-discovery. The truth is, we are shaped by our pasts—both the good and the bad influence who we become. But the other truth is, our voyage isn’t over. If we allow God to come in and guide our journey, He’ll give us the courage we need to shift course when necessary, to battle the storms, and to move forward in His strength and with His purpose.

I pray that wherever you’re at in your life, you’ll invite Him in, give Him control, and rely upon Him to steer the course, doing your small part to make a difference with His help and guidance.

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