April 3 Thursday – Sam’s notebook: “2.30 p.m. called on Sir Gilbert & Miss Carter. / Sailed for Jacksonville at 3./ Appointed Rice to distribute the tips: six of us, $50 apiece, $300” [NB 45 TS 8].

Sam’s ship log: “A flying-fish 30 feet long. It was Rice that saw it. / At 2.30 called on the Government & Miss Carter. Sailed at 3. for Jacksonville” [MTP].

In his Apr. 4 to Livy Sam relates the repose in Nassau (Apr. 2 and 3):

We did nothing at Nassau, except to pay a brief & formal visit to the Governor [Carter] & his daughter just before sailing. All the rest of the time we sat on the after-deck & gazed at the water. It may be that Lake Annecy is its equal, but it is doubtful. The colors are not earthly, they belong only in heaven. The little harbor is like a small lake; & & upon its surface are spread all the enchantments that can be gotten out of a sliding scale of dissolving shades of greens, blues, purples & bronzes, burning with interior fires, & changing to new miracles of variety & splendor with every change of wind & slant of sun—it is enough to make a person drunk with joy & enthusiasm. The effects are all helped by the perfect limpidity of the water & the white coral bottom; the bottom is quite plainly visible in 40 feet of water, & the boat seems floating in the air. I am sure Annecy hadn’t a white bottom—& that makes all the difference in the world. The final show was the best, & we had to leave in the midst of it. We were anchored in a green field of exceedingly pale blue water, whose interior brilliancy suggested dissolved diamonds; the wind broke the surface into waves; one side of each wave was pallid blue, & the shaded side was a deep (but transparent) blue, & this was faintly filmed over with a most delicate bronze—the general effect resulting, was a tossed & restless mottling or splotching of broken blues & pale blues, spiritualized by that divine faint wash of bronze [MTP].