June 8 Saturday – Quaker City left New York at 2 PM for excursion to the Holy Land, the first organized pleasure party ever assembled for a transatlantic voyage. The ship carried only 65 passengers, way short of the 110 limit. Few were from Plymouth Church. Due to rough seas the ship got only as far as Gravesend Bay, off Brooklyn. The captain elected to drop anchor and wait out the storm for two days. Sam finished a letter (started June 1) before the steamer left port to Frank Fuller, asking him to “take charge of my affairs while I am gone to Europe,” which included collecting monies from Webb for sales of his Jumping Frog book and forwarding the amounts to his mother [MTL 2: 53, p62].
In a letter written at 2 AM on June 9 to John McComb, part owner of the Alta, Sam related this last day in New York: He went to dinner at 3 PM with Charles Graham Halpine (Miles O’Riley) (1829-1868) and John Russell Young (1840-1899) managing editor of the Tribune. He drank wine, then dined from 6 to 9 P.M. at John Murphy’s,

…drank several breeds of wine there, naturally enough; dine again from 9 till 12 at Mr. Slote’s, (my shipmate’s), whom the same God made that made Jno Murphy—& mind you I say that such men as they are, are almighty scarce—you can shut your eyes & go forth at random in a strange land & pick out a son of a bitch a great deal easier; —drank much wine there, too….Now I feel good—I feel d—d good & I could write a good correspondence—can, anyway, as soon as I get out of this most dismal town. You’ll see. Got an offer today for 3-months course of lectures next winter—$100 a night & no bother & no expense. How’s that? [MTL 2: 60-61].
Note: It seems like every place Sam tired of and left was “dismal,” in great contrast to the praise he made upon first discovery. Sam was searching for something, for his true self, for something lasting. He would return a different man, closer to finding himself.