August of 1829 He now claims that Mendelssohn's decision to finish his overture on December 16 was "no ordinary accident." "The composer could not have seen this for himself because he visited Staffa in August 1829, but it is conceivable he heard about it through the boatmen who transported him there," he explained. Mendelssohn wrote his overture while he was staying with a friend in Hamburg, Germany, who had a house on the Baltic Sea island of Staffa. The friend invited Mendelssohn to come and see the island, so he packed some of his belongings into a cart and set off for the ferry crossing. However, when he reached the island he decided not to go to the house because there were no rooms available and instead walked around taking in the scenery. While he was out walking one day he happened upon some fishermen repairing their net on the shore near where he was standing. The sound of the pounding surf and the rustling trees made up Mendelssohn's mind for him; he knew immediately what kind of an overture he wanted to write and went back home right away to start work on it. He finished the score in just over a week's time and then played it for his friend who was very impressed by it. After hearing how well the piece had turned out, Mendelssohn decided to send it to a publisher in Berlin but before doing so he decided to submit it to some famous people as samples.