Growing up along the banks of the Mississippi River, Sam Clemens was at home on the water, whether at play or at work. He got his license as a steamboat pilot on the Mississippi in 1859 at the age of 23 and plied his trade for another two years.
Over the next five decades he crossed the Atlantic twenty-nine times, and crossed the Pacific and Indian oceans as part of one complete round-the-world circuit. Whether aboard the great steamers of the period or yachting with friends, he always enjoyed the leisurely, carefree, and sociable shipboard life.