The Clemens family booked passage on the Prince Oscar and left the Villa di Quarto on June 20, stopping for four days at the Hôtel de Ville in Florence. ...
The family boarded the ship June 28, ...
Then, as the Prince Oscar was preparing to leave, Clemens discovered that the death certificate and consular papers were missing.... the Hamburg-American Steamship Company had forwarded these documents to New York by an earlier ship, ...
June 28 Tuesday – Sam later wrote of the mix-up of this morning:
In Naples at 10 a.m. sailing-day I sent my courier to the local agent to inquire if all was right. He was told the casket was on board. The ship was to sail at 4. I arrived on board about 3, & was astounded to learn there were no certificates [for the casket], & that if I could not produce them the casket must be put ashore, because without them it would not be allowed to land in America.
June 28 Tuesday – Sam later wrote of the mix-up of this morning:
In Naples at 10 a.m. sailing-day I sent my courier to the local agent to inquire if all was right. He was told the casket was on board. The ship was to sail at 4. I arrived on board about 3, & was astounded to learn there were no certificates [for the casket], & that if I could not produce them the casket must be put ashore, because without them it would not be allowed to land in America.
June 29 Wednesday – The Clemens party was en route in the Prince Oscar from Naples to New York.
Sam’s notebook: “Sailed last night at 10. The bugle-call to breakfast. I recognized the notes & was distressed. When I heard them last, Livy heard them with me; now they fall upon her ears unheeded. / This ship is the ‘Prince Oscar,’ Hamburg-American” [NB 47 TS 14].
June 30 Thursday – The Clemens party was en route in the Prince Oscar from Naples to New York.
Sam’s notebook: “ Clara keeps her bed, & cannot bear to see any stranger. / The weather is beautiful, the sea is smooth & luminously blue” [NB 47 TS 13].
And, under the printed month-end notes heading right after this entry, he wrote: “In my life there have been 68 Junes—but how vague & colorless 67 of them are, contrasted with the deep blackness of this one!” [ibid.].
July 1 Friday – The Clemens party was en route in the Prince Oscar from Naples to New York.
Sam’s notebook: “I cannot reproduce Livy’s face in my mind’s eye—I was never in my life able to reproduce a face. It is a curious infirmity—& now at last I realize it as a calamity / [Horiz. Line separator] / Passed Gibraltar in the fog, 1.a.m. It is a slow ship” [NB 47 TS 15; MTB 1222 in part]. Note: the 1 a.m. would have been July 2.
July 2 Saturday – The Clemens party was en route in the Prince Oscar from Naples to New York.
Sam’s notebook: “In these 34 years we have made many voyages together, Livy dear—& now we are making our last; you down below & lonely; I above with the crowd & lonely” [MTB 1222; NB 47 TS 15].
July 3 Sunday – The Clemens party was en route in the Prince Oscar from Naples to New York.
Sam’s notebook: “Ship-time 8 a.m. In 13 hours & a quarter it will be 4 weeks since Livy died. / 31 years ago we made our first voyage together—& this is our last one in company. Susy was a year old, then. She died at 24 & has been in her grave 8 years” [MTB 1222; NB 47 TS 15].
July 4 Monday – The Clemens party was en route in the Prince Oscar from Naples to New York.
Sam’s notebook: “We did not come out of our rooms during the day and evening. We were full of memories of other Fourths” [NB 47 TS 15].
July 5 Tuesday – The Clemens party was en route in the Prince Oscar from Naples to New York.
Sam’s notebook: “On the second day out, the surgeon was asked for a tonic for Clara. I was sorry, for it is easier to get rid of 7 diseases than of one doctor. This one has called every day since. After York Harbor and Florence I have an aversion for one-horse doctors. (Kirch). / [Horiz. Line separator] / Passed the Azores” [NB 47 TS 15].
July 6 Wednesday – The Clemens party was en route in the Prince Oscar from Naples to New York.
Fanny P. Hapgood, also a passenger on the Prince Oscar, wrote a note of condolence to Sam [MTP].
July 7 Thursday – The Clemens party was en route in the Prince Oscar from Naples to New York.
July 8 Friday – The Clemens party was en route in the Prince Oscar from Naples to New York.
Sam’s notebook: “A wonderful day. Brilliant sun, brilliant blue water, strong & delightful breeze. In middle of Gulf Stream. Temperature of water, 73 1/2° Fahr. We had such days in the Indian Ocean, & Livy so enjoyed the exaltation of spirit they produced” [NB 47 TS 15].
July 9 Saturday – The Clemens party was en route in the Prince Oscar from Naples to New York.
Sam’s notebook: “Rainy” [NB 47 TS 15].
July 10 Sunday – The Clemens party was en route in the Prince Oscar from Naples to New York.
Sam’s notebook: “To-night it will be 5 weeks. But, to me it remains yesterday—as it has from the first. / But this funeral march—how sad & long it is! / Two more days will end the second stage of it” [MTB 1222; NB 47 TS 15].
July 11 Monday – The Clemens party was en route in the Prince Oscar from Naples to New York.
William Milligan Sloane in Princeton, N.J. wrote Sam a letter of condolence [MTP].
July 12 Tuesday – Sam’s notebook: “Due to finish this melancholy voyage at 7 or 8 this evening. / Small-pox discovered this morning; 5 cases in steerage: every soul on board being vaccinated” [NB 47 TS 16].
July 13 Wednesday – The Clemens family and Livy’s body were transported to Elmira on the Delaware and Lackawanna Railroad, in Edward E. Loomis’ private car “The Lake Forest” [NY Times July 13, “Clemens Brings Wife’s Body,” p.7].
Odoardo Luchini wrote another letter, mostly in Italian to Sam, with best wishes [MTP].