July 15 Wednesday – At 4 p.m. in Cape Town, the Clemens party, with Robert S. Smythe, sailed for England on the Norman, captained by E.T. Jones. Rodney writes that Carlyle Smythe returned to Australia at this time [195]. In FE Sam wrote,

We sailed on the 15th of July in the Norman, a beautiful ship, perfectly appointed. The voyage to England occupied a short fortnight, without a stop except at Madeira. A good and restful voyage for tired people, and there were several of us. I seemed to have been lecturing a thousand years, though it was only a twelvemonth, and a considerable number of the others were Reformers who were fagged out with their five months of seclusion in the Pretoria prison [ch. LXIX 712].

There would be one stop at Madeira, on or around July 26. Parsons writes that Sam had initially planned to work on the sixteen day voyage to Southampton, taking away a “complete run of the Cape Times Weekly Edition from January 1 to July 15, 1896, to serve as an on-the-spot account of South African events.” But Sam met distractions, what with 400 passengers and nice decks for lounging. Included in photographs with Sam, Parsons names: Barney Barnato (1852-1897), Melton Prior (1845-1910; artist of the Illustrated London News), Isaac Freidlander and Sir Abe Bailey (1864-1940). There were at least three released Reform prisoners on board, including Abe Bailey — William Hosken, and Dr. Alfred F. Hillier, men who had been entertained in prison by Sam on May 23. Hillier would write Raid and Reform By a Pretoria Prisoner, which included Sam’s offer to swap places with any of the men. Barnato, born Barnett Isaacs, a mercurial speculator, would die of a suspicious death (some said suicide; family said no), being lost overboard near Madeira the next year [Parsons, “Traveler in S.A.” 39-40].

Leaving his last lecture tour behind it is instructive to note that Sam had completed a year of forced labor, fighting physical, mental, and financial obstacles. In the past ten weeks in Africa he’d given 32 performances in fifteen places, in halls and one large Opera House. His plans were to relax on the two-week voyage home and perhaps lecture some in England and the provinces, but mainly to settle down in a quiet spot and write the new travel book, which would become Following the Equator.

Clara Clemens remembered the voyage to England:

Father luxuriated in cigars and books all the way from Africa to England and we thought of nothing but the pleasure of seeing Susy and Jean again. They were to be brought to London by the faithful maid Katie [Leary], early in August [MFMT 170].

Harper & Brothers wrote to Sam, enclosing a request of July 8 by Hermann Siegel, who wished to translate JA to German. Sam would forward the letters to Chatto & Windus, as he always did with such inquiries for translations or other European editions (see July 15, on or after) [MTP].

July 15, Wednesday on or after – Sometime at sea on the SS Norman en route from Cape Town, S. Africa to Southampton, England, Sam inscribed a Falk Studios photograph of himself to Anna Goodenough (Mrs. W.H.): Very Sincerely Yours / S.L. Clemens / To Mrs. Goodenough / At Sea, July 1896 [MTP]. Note: See July 9 to Bigelow.