March 25 Monday – Sam traveled to Philadelphia, where he gave a luncheon speech at Cramp’s Shipyard for a dedication ceremony of a new liner. Fatout’s intro to the speech, p.274, MT Speaking:

A luncheon given by the International Navigation Company was intended to celebrate the launching of its liner, the St. Paul. Unfortunately, the ship would not slide into the water. Two hours’ work with sledges and with steam hoses to soften the tallow on the ways failed to budge her. The event had to be postponed, but the Times reported the next day that “Although the launch did not take place the luncheon…was served and congratulatory speeches were made.”

And, from Sam’s speech:

Day after tomorrow I sail for England in a ship of this line, the Paris. It will be my fourteenth crossing in three years and a half. Therefore, my presence here, as you see, is quite natural, quite commercial. I am interested in ships. They interest me more now than hotels do. When a new ship is launched I feel a desire to go and see if she will be good quarters for me to live in, particularly if she belongs to this line, for it is by this line that I have done most of my ferrying.

People wonder why I go so much. Well, I go partly for my health, partly to familiarize myself with the road. I have gone over the same road so many times now that I know all the whales that belong along the route, and latterly it is an embarrassment to me to meet them, for they do not look glad to see me, but annoyed, and they seem to say: “Here is this old derelict again.”

Earlier in life this would have pained me and made me ashamed, but I am older now, and when I am behaving myself, and doing right, I do not care for a whale’s opinion about me. [See 274-5 for the rest of the speech].