After a five weeks' voyage, they neared the coast of New Jersey in the midst of a storm and took on a pilot on Saturday morning, November 11. Two hours after making the Navesink lighthouses, the ship struck so heavily on the shoals that there was no way of getting her off. The passengers and crew prepared themselves, observed Bayley, "for what men call the worst and awaited the end." Fortunately, the ship continued afloat until one o'clock Sunday morning when a steamer from Staten Island came to their rescue, and the passengers reached New York City soon after dawn on Sunday, November 12, 1843, nearly two years after Bayley's departure. After spending a couple of weeks visiting his relations and friends, he resumed his studies at St. John's. During the ember days of Lent, 1844, he received the tonsure and minor orders, the subdiaconate on February 28, and the diaconate on Friday, March 1. He was ordained a priest on March 2, 1844 by Bishop Hughes in St. Patrick's Old Cathedral. A week later, he was present in the cathedral on March 10 for the consecration of his old friend, John McCloskey, as the Coadjutor Bishop of New York.