August 24 Saturday – Sam, Livy and daughter Clara were en route to Honolulu on the Warrimoo, captain R.E. Arundel. Sam wrote of the ship and captain in the first chapter of FE:

Ours was a reasonably comfortable ship, with the customary sea-going fare — plenty of good food furnished by the Deity and cooked by the devil. The discipline observable on board was perhaps as good as it is anywhere in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. The ship was not very well arranged for tropical service; but that is nothing, for this is the rule for ships which ply in the tropics. She had an over-supply of cock-roaches, but this is also the rule with ships doing business in the summer seas…

Our young captain was a very handsome man, tall and perfectly formed, the very figure to show up a smart uniform’s finest effects. He was a man of the best intentions, and was polite and courteous even to courtliness….He had no vices. He did not smoke or chew tobacco or take snuff; he did not swear, or use slang, or rude, or coarse, or indelicate language, or make puns, or tell anecdotes, or laugh intemperately, or raise his voice….After dinner he and his officers joined the ladies and gentlemen in the ladies’ saloon, and shared in the singing and piano playing, and helped turn the music. He had a sweet and sympathetic tenor voice, and used it with taste and effect. After the music he played whist there, always with the same partner and opponents, until the ladies’ bedtime [26-7].

Zmijewski writes of the excitement in Hawaii, where it was assumed Sam would make the lecture at Independence Park on this day, advertised as early as Aug. 17:

“Hawaii prepared for Mark Twain’s visit with enough editorial fanfare to touch the heart and incite the rebellious instincts of any visiting celebrity. L.J. Levey, a local business man, acted as manager for the Twain lecture at Independence Park Pavilion and tickets were selling fast for the 24 August event” [22].

Zmijewski also reports the delay in the Warrimoo’s arrival and the consternation it caused:

“Plans had been made and tickets had been sold, yet two uncertainties threatened to disrupt the spectacle. On 23 August, the Warrimoo had not arrived ….the unpredictable state of the cholera outbreak held the key as to whether or not the Warrimoo would be permitted to dock….Hawaii waited; still the Warrimoo did not appear. In those days there was no shipboard radio, so once a vessel left port its progress was a mystery unless another ship happened to cross its path and the two shared news and mail. Where was the Warrimoo? and where was Twain? Had the Warrimoo decided to avoid Hawaii altogether after somehow hearing about the cholera epidemic?” [25].

Once news arrived that the ship had not left until Aug. 23, new plans were made for the event.

The San Francisco Examiner, p.6 ran “Twain’s Programme,” a more extended statement of Sam’s remarks sent to his nephew, Samuel Moffett, who worked on the newspaper [Scharnhorst, Interviews 190-2].