Innocents Abroad: Day By Day

July 3 Wednesday – Sam finished his July 2 letter to Jane Clemens and family [MTL 1:70-1n5].

July 30 Tuesday – Sam’s article, dated June 23, “The Mediterranean Excursion” ran in the New York Tribune [McKeithan 10-18].

July 31 Wednesday – QC departed Leghorn at 9 AM.

July 4 Thursday – At sunrise on the Quaker City, 13 guns saluted the day with blowing of steam whistles. Lucius Moody recorded the event in his diary published in the Canton, Ohio Plain Dealer for July 25, 1867. Clemens could not have helped to hear or have been on deck for the goings on.

QC arrived at Marseilles, France at 7 PM.

July 5 Friday – Sam, Jackson, and Slote left Marseilles for Paris on an evening train.

July 6 Saturday – Sam and friends arrived in Paris in the evening. The next morning we were up and dressed at ten o’clock. We went to the commissionaire of the hotel —I don’t know what a commissionaire is, but that is the man we went to—and told him we wanted a guide. He said the national Exposition had drawn such multitudes of Englishmen and Americans to Paris that it would be next to impossible to find a good guide unemployed. He said he usually kept a dozen or two on hand, but he only had three now. He called them. One looked so like a very pirate that we let him go at once.

July 7 Sunday – Alta California printed Sam’s article “FOR CHRISTIANS TO READ,” which Sam had dated May 20 [Schmidt]. Camfield lists this as “Letter from Mark Twain” No. 20 [bibliog.]. Sam’s article “First Interview with Artemus Ward” (alt. Title: “A Reminiscence of Artemus Ward”) ran in the Sunday Mercury [Camfield bibliog.].

June 1 Saturday – Sam wrote from New York to his mother and family in St. Louis, irritated about the wait, and uncertain if the Quaker City would even sail. He was no doubt down about the withdrawal of General Sherman and Henry Ward Beecher, and pressed to finish his writing duties All I do know or feel, is, that I am wild with impatience to move—move—Move! …Curse the endless delays! They always kill me—make me neglect every duty & then I have a conscience that tears me like a wild beast.

June 10 Monday – The Quaker City finally put out to sea at 12:30 PM. A lot of the passengers were seasick. “We all like to see people seasick when we are not, ourselves” [IA, Ch 3].

For the most part, Sam thought the passengers were staid stuffed shirts. “I was on excellent terms with eight or nine of the excursionists,” Sam wrote later in Innocents Abroad, “(they are my staunch friends yet) and was even on speaking terms with the rest of the sixty-five.”

June 11 Tuesday – Captain Charles Duncan recorded the noon hailing of the Emerald Isle, which, according to the NY Times, left Liverpool on May 12 [MTNJ 1: 333n76]. Note: after several days at sea without seeing a soul, this would have been cause for interest among the passengers.

June 13 Thursday – From Sam’s notebook:
—On board Steamer Quaker City at sea, 12 M—lat.40, long 62—560 miles from New York, ¼ of the way to the Azores—just 3 days out—in last 24 hours made 205 miles. Will make more in next 24, because the wind is fair & we are under sail & steam both, & are burning 30 tons of coal a day & fast lightening up the ship [MTNJ 1: 335].

June 14 Friday – From Sam’s notebook:
“Shipped a sea through the open dead-light that damaged cigars, books, &c—comes of being careless when room is on weather side of the ship….Mrs. C.C. Duncan’s 46 birth-day festival in the after-cabin” [Ibid.]
Emily Severance recorded most of what Sam said at the festivities:

June 15 Saturday – Sam entertained some of the passengers by holding a mock trial of the purser for “stealing an overcoat belonging to Sam Clemens” [MTNJ 1: 336].

June 16 Sunday – Alta California printed Sam’s article “JEFF DAVIS,” which Sam dated May 17 [Schmidt]. Camfield lists this as “Letter from Mark Twain” No. 17 [bibliog.].

June 17 Monday – From Sam’s notebook:
Blackfish, whales, an occasional shark & lots of Portuguese men-of-war in sight. Brown distressed for fear the latter would attack the ship….Caught a flying fish—it flew 50 yards & came aboard—can’t fly after wind & sun dry their wings….Lat. 40, long. 43W—1/2 way between America & Portugal & away south of Cape Farewell, Greenland. Large school of spouting blackfish—make the water white with their spouting spray [MTNJ 1: 337].
One of three dances was held on board the Quaker City [MTL 70n5].

June – William Morris Stewart (1827-1909) wrote to Sam sometime during the month offering Clemens a secretaryship at Washington. See Aug. 9 for Sam’s reply [MTP].

June 19 Wednesday – From Sam’s notebook:
June 19—Within 136 miles of the Azores at noon. / D r & S get sea-sick at table—go out & throw up & return for more….

June 2 Sunday – Alta California printed Sam’s article “THE MORMONS,” which Sam had dated April 19 [Schmidt]. Camfield lists this as “Letter from Mark Twain” No. 15 [bibliog.].

June 20 Thursday – A violent storm drove the QC to Fayal (see June 21 entry.) Sam’s notebook:
“Questions for debate. Which is the most powerful motive—Duty or Ambition?
Is or is not Capt. Duncan responsible for the head winds?” [MTNJ 1: 340].

June 21 Friday – The Quaker City (subsequently noted here as QC) arrived at Horta, island of Fayal, in the Azores at daylight.
At three o’clock on the morning of the 21 of June we were awakened and notified that the Azores islands were in sight. I said I did not take any interest in islands at three o’clock in the morning. But another persecutor came, and then another and another, and finally believing that the general enthusiasm would permit no one to slumber in peace, I got up and went sleepily on deck [Innocents Abroad, Ch 5].

June 22 Saturday – From Sam’s notebook:

June 23 Sunday – QC departed Horta at 11 AM
“The group on the pier was a rusty one—men and women, boys and girls, all ragged and barefoot, uncombed and unclean, and by instinct, education, an profession, beggars. …and never more, while we tarried in Fayal, did we get rid of them” [Innocents Abroad, Ch. 5].
Alta California printed Sam’s article “THE NUISANCE OF ADVICE,” which Sam had dated May 18 [Schmidt]. Camfield lists this as “Letter from Mark Twain” No. 18 [bibliog.].

June 24 to June 27 Thursday – The New York Weekly published the last of five of Sam’s Sandwich Islands Letters. From Sam’s notebook:

“Had Ball No. 2 on promenade deck, under lanterns (no awning but heaven) but ship pitched so & dew kept deck so slippery, was little more fun than comfort about it” [MTNJ 1: 348].

June 26 Wednesday – From Sam’s notebook: “Met a great clipper ship under a perfect cloud of canvas” [MTNJ 1: 348].

June 27 Thursday – The last of five letters from Hawaii, reprints of five early Sacramento Union letters with “a few minor omissions” ran in the New York Weekly. Dated Honolulu, March, 1866 and beginning “I am probably the most sensitive man in the kingdom of Hawaii…” this article “stops about half-way through the corresponding article in the Union, perhaps for consideration of space” [The Twainian, Mar. 1944 p2-3].
From Emily Severance’s notebook: