March 10 Tuesday – At the invitation of ship’s captain, John Gay, Sam spent much of the day aboard a British Cruiser, the HMS Cressy, enjoying laughter and stories in the Officers’ Mess [Mar. 12 to Quick]. William Evarts Benjamin accompanied him. The Cressy was one of three warships anchored at the Dockyard, Ireland Island, Sandys Parish [D. Hoffman 115-16]. Note: since he did not mention his time aboard ship in the following three letters, they were likely written in the a.m. before boarding. Sam would mention this time aboard the ship to Dorothy Quick in his Mar.

March 9 Monday – Howells & Stokes wrote to Sam, enclosing a bill for $2,952.69 for William Webb Sunderland, the 7th payment in his contract [MTP].

March 8 Sunday – The New York Times, page 12, ran “Knickerbocker Will Open On March 26,” which announced the reopening of Sam’s bank where he had over $51,000 in deposits. The Knickerbocker Trust Co. bank had suffered a run by frantic depositors and was forced to close shortly after noon on Oct. 2, 1907. It’s likely that Sam received the good news by this day or the next.

(signed) Finlayson:

H.W. Finlayson wrote from Grassy Bay, Bermuda to Sam (John Gay, Capt. Of Cressy; also

March 7 Saturday – The Royal Gazette of Hamilton, Bermuda noted the regular appearance of Sam and H.H. Rogers on Front Street. Quoted and summarized by D. Hoffman:

March 6 Friday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: This morning we had been gaily photographing the King and Irene, in and out of the donkey cart, and they went to the billiard room to be photographed there by a German whose name is uncatchable. I followed by and by to tell the King that the “battery” was waiting to move and looking through the window into the billiard room as I passed along the porch, I saw the King, pale as death, leaning over the table, and the young German rubbing the back of his head. “Do you feel better now?” I heard him say.

March 5 Thursday – Sam appeared on stage at the Princess Hotel ballroom, for the benefit of the Cottage Hospital. He told the story of the “three-dollar dog,” which he had related in his A.D. of Oct. 3, 1907. See entry; also see D. Hoffman p.110-114 for the full tale. Hoffman writes:  

March 4 Wednesday – Dorothy Butes wrote from London to Sam.

Dear Dr. Clemens. / Your crimes follow you! In geography, the other day, the Professor said that at a little inn in Germany, where he stayed, in the guest register he had to put down, his name & profession, & just above his name was that of “S.L. Clemens, Profession, Mark Twain”!!

March 3 Tuesday – Sometime during the Bermuda stay with H.H. Rogers, Elizabeth Wallace recorded her impression of Rogers and the interaction between Clemens and Rogers during card games:

March 2 Monday – At the Princess Hotel in Hamilton, Bermuda Sam added a PS to his Feb. 29 letter to daughter Clara: “P.S. Monday Eve. Your letter has arrived, with its gratifying news. The Oswego incident is worth a dozen word-compliments.”  

Sam also replied to the Feb. 28 from Margaret Blackmer at The Misses Tewksbury’s School, Irvington-on-Hudson, N.Y.

Dear Margaret:

March 1 Sunday – In Bermuda, the Clemens party took an excursion to see the new island aquarium, which had opened on Jan. 1, 1908. D. Hoffman gives “the effervescent and obliging U.S. consul,” W. Maxwell Greene as organizer of the trip, and writes: Goodwin Gosling, secretary to the Bermuda Natural History Society, also came aboard….