August 11 Sunday – The yacht Kanawha was now headed for Digby, Nova Scotia, across the Bay of
Fundy from St. John. Sam kept a log of the trip, which reflects the high jinks among the passengers:
Sam’s ship log:
August 11, Sunday. Advanced to Yarmouth, N.S., via Digby; then through the picturesque Petit Passage to Yarmouth.
Fog bound.
The garrison went ashore & strolled.
The authorities visited the yacht in the evening & said various articles had been missed. Mr. Rogers paid for them.
The sailors will not now stand watch on the Social Assembly deck, aft, after midnight, because the spectre of an umbrella has been seen walking there, pale & water-soaked. This points to a secret crime.
A service of lamentation proposed by the bereaved. Coldly received [MTP].
Note: Dias reports this variation:
“Officers visited the yacht in the evening and said an anvil had been missed. Mr. Rogers paid for the anvil” [Dias, Odd Couple 102].
Sam wrote to Livy en route.
Livy darling, we remained at anchor at St. John all day yesterday, & sailed this morning to go to Yarmouth; or somewhere. But it is very foggy out here, so we have changed course & are running for Digby.
It is a brilliant & beautiful day, & the sea is light green—sea-green—a very splendid color.
We are behaving very well to-day—even the others are behaving well.
These are very troublesome people, & full of superstitions. They say I come to dinner only when there are peach dumplings; & they pretend that it then turns out that there are only enough for one. The world is more & more given to slander.
Give my love to all of you & aunt Sue & Blennerhasset [MTP].
Note: This letter was postmarked Aug. 12 from Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, so the Kanawha reached that far south. “Blennerhasset” was most recently Sam’s name for the pesky squirrels at the Lake (see July 28 entry), but also given to a favorite cat at Riverdale, and a squirrel there. In the Villagers of 1840-3, Sam wrote that there was only one Unbeliever in Hannibal, “Blennerhasset, the young Kentucky lawyer, a fascinating cuss— and they shuddered to hear him talk. They expected a judgment to fall upon him at any moment. They believed the devil would come for him in person some stormy night. / He was very profane, and blasphemous. He was vain of being prayed for in the revivals; vain of being singled out for this honor always by every new revivalist; vain of the competition between these people for his capture; vain that it was the ambition of each in his turn to hang this notable scalp at his belt. The young ladies were ambitious to convert him.”