Conclusion

This is the conclusion of our journey under the seas. What happened that night, how the boat escaped from the formidable undertow of the Maelstrom, how Ned, Conseil, and I emerged from the deep, I cannot say. But when I came to, I was...

A Massacre

The way he spoke, the unexpectedness of the scene, the recounting of the tale of the patriotic ship, and the vehemence with which this strange individual had pronounced the final words about the Vengeur, leaving me in no doubt about his meaning:...

Squid

For several days the Nautilus kept well away from the American coast. It clearly did not wish to tarry in the Gulf of Mexico or the Caribbean. Nevertheless, its keel would have had plenty of water, for the average depth of these...

Baleen and Sperm Whales

During the night of 13 to 14 March, the Nautilus continued on its route southwards. I thought that once at Cape Horn it would set sail for the west, in order to head for the seas of the Pacific and thus complete...

The Black River

The area of the terrestrial globe covered by water is estimated to be 383,255,800 square kilometres, or more than 38 million hectares.* This liquid mass occupies 2,250 million cubic miles and would form a sphere of 60 leagues diameter, whose weight would...

Ned Land’s Fits of Anger

How long we slept I do not know, but it must have been a considerable period, for we awoke completely refreshed. I was the first to stir. My companions had not yet moved, stretched out in their corners like inert masses. Scarcely had I got...

Accident or Incident?

The following day, 22 March, preparations for departure began at six in the morning. The last gleams of dusk were melting into the night. There was a piercing cold. The constellations shone with surprising intensity. At the zenith sparkled the beautiful Southern Cross, the...

The Sargasso Sea

The direction of the Nautilus had not changed, so any hope of returning to European waters had to be put aside for the moment. Captain Nemo maintained a southerly course. Where was he taking us? I dared not think. That day, the Nautilus...

The Mediterranean in Forty-Eight Hours

The blue sea par excellence, the ‘Great Sea’ of the Hebrews, ‘the Sea’ of the Greeks, the mare nostrum of the Romans.* Bordered by orange trees, aloes, cacti, maritime pines, embalmed in the perfume of myrtle trees, framed by severe...

Arabian Tunnel

That same day, I told Conseil and Ned the part of the conversation which directly concerned them. When I informed them that within two days we would be in the waters of the Mediterranean, Conseil clapped his hands but the Canadian simply shrugged his...