September 15 Sunday – At sea on the Warrimoo, Sam finished his Sept. 13-14 letter to H.H. Rogers:

Atlantic seas on to-day — the first we have had. And yet not really rough. Satchels keep their places and do not go browsing around….Clara “fetched away” from the piano stool while playing the hymns at divine service.

Though James B. Pond was three years younger, Sam called him “superannuated,” without “any sand or any intelligence or judgment,” and wondered who he would get should he lecture “through America next year” [MTHHR 188].

FE Ch. IX p.110: Sept. 15 — Night. Close to Australia now. Sydney 50 miles distant. [Sam then described seeing the flash of porpoises in the dark sea]. The porpoise is the kitten of the sea; he never has a serious thought, he cares for nothing but fun and play. But I think I never saw him at his winsomest until that night. It was near a center of civilization, and he could have been drinking.

The Warrimoo anchored in the Sydney harbor, Watson’s Bay at 11 p.m. The Clemens party spent the night on board. Shillingsburg lists an interview conducted this evening by Herbert Low from the “little Post Office launch’ hired by Sydney Morning Herald and Melbourne Argus, which was published in the Sydney Morning Herald on Sept. 16, p.5 “Arrival of Mark Twain” [Shillingsburg, “Down Under” 6] Asked of his first impressions of Australia Sam answered, “I don’t know. I’m ready to adopt any that seem handy. I don’t believe in going outside accepted views.” In this first interview Sam created some controversy, with remarks about Max O’Rell (Paul Blouët), Bret Harte and others [At Home 24].

NOTE on sources: Miriam Shillingsburg’s excellent (1988) Mark Twain in Australiasia: At Home Abroad, together with MTJ (Fall, 1995) “Down Under Day By Day with Mark Twain” are the primary sources for this segment of the world tour. There is no better exposition of newspaper reviews or daily log. For items not individually cited, the reader should reference her works. I have retained Shillingsburg’s “probable” events or mentions, and given emphasis to time, place, event and substance — working in all known, available letters to and from Samuel Clemens from other sources. From this point on, the deluge of newspaper reviews, articles and interviews on Mark Twain precludes complete citation or excerpting here. See also Scharnhorst for many interviews.