Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

By Jules Verne

The "man who invented the future," French novelist Jules Verne fanned mankind's desire to explore earth's hidden territories. His prophetic 1870 adventure novel, featuring a fabulous underwater craft commanded by the brilliant and mysterious Captain Nemo, predated the deep-water submarine.
Weaving amazing scientific achievements with simple, everyday occurrences, this memorable tale brims with detailed descriptions of a futuristic vessel and bizarre scenes of life on the ocean's bottom. On-board travelers view Red Sea coral, wrecks of a historic naval battle, Antarctic ice shelves, and the fictional Atlantis. In addition, they confront a giant squid and belligerent cannibals, among other rousing adventures.
The crowning achievement of Verne's literary career, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea not only influenced H. G. Wells and future generations of writers, but also inspired numerous films.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Release date: Mar 27, 2012
• ISBN: 9780486112312

Jules Verne

Jules Verne (1828-1905) was a French novelist, poet and playwright. Verne is considered a major French and European author, as he has a wide influence on avant-garde and surrealist literary movements, and is also credited as one of the primary inspirations for the steampunk genre. However, his influence does not stop in the literary sphere. Verne’s work has also provided invaluable impact on scientific fields as well. Verne is best known for his series of bestselling adventure novels, which earned him such an immense popularity that he is one of the world’s most translated authors.

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DOVER THRIFT EDITIONS

GENERAL EDITOR: MARY CAROLYN WALDREP

EDITOR OF THIS VOLUME: JANET BAINE KOPITO

Note copyright © 2006 by Dover Publications, Inc. All rights reserved.

Bibliographical Note

This Dover edition, first published in 2006, is an unabridged republication of the text of the Philip Schuyler Allen translation of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, originally published by Rand McNally & Company, Chicago and New York, in 1922. A new introductory Note has been specially prepared for this edition.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Verne, Jules, 1828–1905.

[Vingt mille lieues sous les mers. English]

Twenty thousand leagues under the sea / Jules Verne ; translated from the French by Philip Schuyler Allen.

p. cm.—(Dover thrift editions)

Originally published: Chicago : Rand McNally, 1922. (The Windermere series). With a new introductory note.

9780486112312

1. Underwater exploration—Fiction. 2. Submarines (Ships)—Fiction. I. Allen, Philip Schuyler, 1871–1937. II. Title. III. Title: 20,000 leagues under the seas. IV. Series.

PQ2469.V4E5 2006

843’.8—dc22

2005054279

Manufactured in the United States of America

Dover Publications, Inc., 31 East 2nd Street, Mineola, N.Y. 11501

Note

THE AUTHOR of immensely popular novels such as Journey to the Center of the Earth and Around the World in Eighty Days, Jules Verne had a lifelong enthusiasm for the sea. Born in Nantes, on the coast of France, in 1828, Verne was expected to follow a more quotidian path in life. He studied law in Paris, but it was literature that intrigued him, and he began to write. His parents did not support his aspirations, and they refused to support him financially. Verne then drifted into other professions, becoming a stockbroker when nearing thirty. He could not be deterred from writing, however, and he had his first success with the publication of the novel Five Weeks in a Balloon (Cinque semaines en ballon) in 1863. This initial offering combines the theme of travel with accurately researched geographical and historical data, a typical Verne approach. And, like the submarine in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Five Weeks in a Balloon features a distinctive vehicle—a balloon. Dr. Samuel Ferguson, the intrepid adventurer of this book, reveals the author’s bias for getting out to see the world: Everything in life involves danger; it may even be dangerous to sit down at one’s own table, or to put one’s hat on one’s own head.

After the success of Five Weeks in a Balloon, Verne pursued a full-time writing career. His publisher, Pierre-Jules Hetzel (who also published the works of Hugo, Zola, and Balzac), believed that Verne’s unique blend of romantic adventure and science would capture the public’s imagination. The works, in fact, were presented as Extraordinary Travels (Voyages Extraordinaires); illustrated editions were offered at a higher price than the text-only versions. Verne wrote more than one hundred books, a number of them foreshadowing the popular genre of science fiction—a natural outgrowth of his unbridled passion for exploration and thirst for scientific knowledge. Jules Verne died in France in 1905.

With an exciting plot offering a sea monster, an eccentric submarine captain, and an up-close examination of marine life, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (originally published in French as Vingt Milles Lieues sous les mers in 1870) is a classic adventure story. Thought to be an invention of mad sailormen, the sea monster whose antics captivate the public at the start of the novel is blamed for an attack upon a Cunard ship. Like a nineteenth-century Bermuda Triangle, the monster is charged with scores of losses at sea. The more scientific explanation, that of the existence of a submarine vessel of immense motive power, appeals to Pierre Aronnax, a professor of natural history who regards the monster as a hoax. Nevertheless, he boards a frigate to track it down. Accompanied by his servant, Conseil, he meets Ned Land, a harpooner, on board the ship. At sea, the frigate’s passengers are astonished by the appearance of a gigantic narwhal. During a violent encounter, Aronnax, Conseil, and Land are thrown overboard. Their true adventure begins when they find themselves aboard a curious vessel, the Nautilus, skippered by the mysterious Captain Nemo. Further adventures confirm the notion that Jules Verne relished his beloved maritime lore as a compelling stage for this engaging tale.

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

Note

Part One

I - A SHIFTING REEF

II - TWO SIDES OF AN ARGUMENT

III - I MAKE MY DECISION

IV - NED LAND

V - THE GREAT ADVENTURE

VI - FULL STEAM AHEAD

VII - AN UNKNOWN SPECIES OF WHALE

VIII - OUR NEW QUARTERS

IX - NED LAND ATTACKS

X - THE MAN OF THE SEAS

XI - THE NAUTILUS

XII - THE SOUL OF THE NAUTILUS

XIII - CAPTAIN NEMO EXPLAINS

XIV - THE BLACK RIVER

XV - A NOTE OF INVITATION

XVI - ON THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA

XVII - A SUBMARINE FOREST

XVIII - FOUR THOUSAND LEAGUES UNDER THE PACIFIC

XIX - THE ISLAND OF VANIKORO

XX - TORRES STRAITS

XXI - ARCADIAN DAYS ON LAND

XXII - CAPTAIN NEMO’S THUNDERBOLT

XXIII - CONFINEMENT

XXIV - THE REALM OF CORAL

Part Two

I - THE INDIAN OCEAN

II - THE ISLAND OF CEYLON

III - A PEARL OF GREAT PRICE

IV - THE RED SEA

V - UNDER THE ISTHMUS

VI - THE GRECIAN ARCHIPELAGO

VII - THE MEDITERRANEAN IN FORTY-EIGHT HOURS

VIII - VIGO BAY

IX - THE LOST CONTINENT

X - SUBMARINE COAL MINES

XI - THE SARGASSO SEA

XII - CACHALOTS AND WHALES

XIII - THE GREAT ICE BARRIER

XIV - THE SOUTH POLE

XV - AN OVERTURNED MOUNTAIN

XVI - A LIVING TOMB

XVII - FROM CAPE HORN TO THE AMAZON

XVIII - THE POULPS

XIX - THE GULF STREAM

XX - WE VISIT A TOMB

XXI - HUMAN SACRIFICE

XXII - CAPTAIN NEMO’S LAST WORDS

XXIII - CONCLUSION

Part One

I

A SHIFTING REEF

THE YEAR of grace 1866 was made memorable by a marvelous event which doubtless still lingers in men’s minds. No explanation for this strange occurrence was found, and it soon came to be generally regarded as inexplicable. A thousand rumors were current among the population of the seacoasts and stirred the imagination of those millions who dwelt inland far from the shores of an ocean. But of course it was the seafaring men who were most excited. And everyone in Europe or America that had to do with navigation was deeply interested in the matter—whether sailors or merchants, captains or pilots, naval officers or rulers of empire.

For some time prior to the opening of our story ships at sea had been met by an enormous object, a long thing shaped like a spindle and infinitely larger and more rapid in its movements than a whale. At times it was phosphorescent.

The various log books which described this miraculous object or creature agreed as to its main characteristics: its shape, the darting rapidity of its movements, its amazing locomotive power, and the peculiar kind of life with which it seemed endowed. If it were some sort of marine animal, it far surpassed in size any of which science had record. To arrive at an estimate of its length, it is best to reject equally the timid statements of those who guessed it to be some two hundred feet long and the wild exaggerations of such as swore it measured a mile in width and stretched three miles from tip to tip. But, whatever average we might strike between these two extreme views, it still remains clear that this mysterious being outstripped immensely in its dimensions any known to the scientists of the day, if it turned out to exist at all.

And that it did exist was undeniable. There was no longer any disposition to class it in the list of fabulous creatures. The human mind is ever hungry to believe in new and marvelous phenomena, and so it is easy for us to understand the vast excitement produced throughout the whole world by this supernatural apparition.

It was on the 20th of July, 1866, when five miles off the east coast of Australia, that the Governor Higginson, a ship of the Calcutta and Burnach Steam Navigation Company, had come upon this moving mass. At first Captain Baker thought himself in the presence of an uncharted sand reef. In fact, he was just taking steps to determine its exact position, when two columns of water, projected from this inexplicable object, shot with a hissing noise one hundred and fifty feet up into the air. Now, either the sand reef had been submitted to the intermittent eruption of a geyser or the Governor Higginson had fallen afoul of some aquatic mammal, until then unknown, which could spout from its blowholes pillars of water mixed with air and vapor.

A similar experience was recorded on the 23d of July in the same year, in the Pacific Ocean, by the Columbus, of the West India and Pacific Steam Navigation Company. It thus was apparent that this extraordinary animal could transport itself from one place to another with surprising velocity. For in an interval of only three days the Governor Higginson and the Columbus had observed it at two points on the chart which were separated by a distance of over seven hundred nautical leagues.

A fortnight later, two thousand leagues farther off, two steamers signaled the presence of the monster in 42° 35’ north latitude and 60° 35’ west longitude. These vessels were the Helvetia, of the Compagnie Nationale, and the Shannon, of the Royal Mail Steamship Company, both sailing to windward in that part of the Atlantic which lies between the United States and Europe. In these observations, which were taken at the same moment, the ships’ captains thought themselves justified in estimating the minimum length of the mammal at more than three hundred and fifty feet, since it was longer than either the Shannon or the Helvetia, and they measured but three hundred feet over all.

Now, the largest whales in the world, those which inhabit the sea around the Aleutian, the Kulammak, and the Umgullich Islands, never exceed sixty yards in length, and it is questionable whether they ever attain such size.

Other reports regarding the monster continued to come in. Fresh observations of it were made from the transatlantic ship Pereira, and from the Etna, of the Inman Line, which suffered a collision with it. An official report was drawn up by the officers of the French frigate Normandie, and a very accurate survey made by the staff of Commodore Fitz-James on board the Lord Clyde. All this greatly influenced public opinion. To be sure, lightminded people everywhere jested about the phenomenon, but grave and practical nations, such as England, America, and Germany, were inclined to treat the affair more seriously.

Wherever great multitudes assembled, the monster became the fashion of the moment. They represented it on the stage, sang of it in the cafés, made fun of it in the newspapers. Every imaginable sort of yarn was circulated regarding it. The journals contained comic pictures of every gigantic creature you could think of, from the terrible white whale of polar regions to the prodigious kraken, whose tentacles seize a vessel of five hundred tons’ register and plunge it into the abyss of ocean.

Half-forgotten legends of olden times were revived. People spoke of how historians who lived long before the Christian era had claimed to know of such miraculous creatures. The Norwegian tales of Bishop Pontoppidan were recalled to memory and published, as were the accounts of Paul Heggede and the statements of Mr. Harrington. The last-named gentleman, whose good faith no one could impugn, stoutly affirmed that in the year 1857, from the ship Castillan, he had seen this enormous serpent, which until that time had never frequented any seas other than those of the ancient Constitutionnel.

Then there burst forth in the pages of scientific journals and in the meetings of learned societies the unending warfare between the true believers and the heretics. The question of the monster seemed to inflame all minds. Editors of scholarly periodicals began to quarrel with everyone who put his trust in the supernatural. Seas of ink were spilled in this memorable campaign, and not a little blood. For, from fighting about the sea serpent, people soon came to fighting with one another.

A six months’ war was waged, with changing fortunes, in the leading essays of the Geographical Institution of Brazil, the Royal Academy of Science of Berlin, the British Association, and the Smithsonian Institution of Washington. Constant skirmishes were carried on in the discussions of the Indian Archipelago, in Abbé Moigno’s Cosmos, in Petermann’s Mittheilungen, and in the scientific articles of the important journals of France and other countries. The cheaper magazines replied delightedly and with an inexhaustible zest, twisting a remark of the great Swedish naturalist Linnaeus, which had been quoted by disbelievers in the monster, to the effect that Nature did not create fools. These satirical writers begged their learned fellows not to give the lie to nature by acknowledging the existence of krakens, sea serpents, Moby Dicks, and other inventions of mad sailormen. Finally, an essay in a famous satirical magazine, written by a favorite contributor, the chief of the journal’s staff, settled the fate of the monster once for all by giving it the death blow amid a universal burst of laughter. Wit had conquered science by laughing it out of court.

And so, during the first months of the year 1867, the whole matter of the monster seemed to be buried beyond all hope of resurrection. Then suddenly new facts were brought before the public. Without warning, the question became no longer a scientific puzzle to be solved, but a real danger difficult to be avoided. The situation had assumed an entirely different shape: the monster had turned into a small island, a rock, a reef, but a reef of indefinite and shifting proportions.

During the night of March 5, 1867, in 27° 30’ latitude and 72° 15’ longitude, the Moravian, of the Montreal Ocean Company, struck on her starboard quarter a rock that was indicated in no chart of those waters. With the united efforts of the stiff wind and her four hundred horsepower, the good ship was steaming at the rate of thirteen knots. Now, had it not been for the exceptional strength of the Moravian’s hull, she would have been shattered by the shock of collision and have gone down with all hands, plus the two hundred and thirty-seven passengers she was bringing home to Canada.

The accident occurred just at daybreak, about five o’clock in the morning. The officers hurried from the bridge to the after deck of the vessel. They studied the surface of the sea with the most scrupulous care. But, stare as they would, they saw nothing except a strong eddying wash of troubled waters, some three cables’ length off the side of the ship, as if the surface had been recently and violently churned. The Moravian at once took her bearings very accurately and thereafter proceeded under full headway without apparent damage.

What could have happened? Had the ship struck on a barely submerged rock or scraped across the wreckage of some huge derelict? The officers could not decide. But when the ship later was lying in dry-dock, undergoing repairs, an examination of the bottom showed that part of her keel was broken.

This fact, so gravely important in itself, would perhaps have been forgotten as many other like incidents had been, if three weeks afterward the scene had not been again enacted under quite similar conditions. This time, however, thanks to the nationality of the victim of the shock, thanks also to the reputation of the company to which the vessel belonged, the circumstances of the accident became extensively circulated.

In a smooth sea, with a favorable breeze, on the 13th of April, 1867, the Scotia, of the Cunard Company’s line, was in 15° 12’ longitude and 45° 37’ latitude. Her gauges showed a speed of thirteen and one-half knots. At seventeen minutes past four in the afternoon, while the passengers were still assembled at lunch in the main saloon, a slight shock was felt against the hull of the Scotia on her quarter a trifle aft of the port paddle.

The Scotia had not done the striking; she had been struck, and apparently by some object that was sharp and penetrating rather than blunt. The jar to the vessel had been so slight that no one felt himself alarmed until he heard the cries of the carpenter’s watch, who rushed up on the bridge, shouting, We’re sinking! We’re sinking!

At first the passengers were badly frightened, but Captain Anderson soon hastened to reassure them. The danger could not be imminent. The Scotia, divided as she was by stout partitions into seven compartments, could with immunity brave any leak. Captain Anderson plunged down into the ship’s hold and discovered that the sea was pouring into the fifth compartment. The rapidity of the inflow was sufficient evidence of the great force of the water.

Now by good fortune this compartment did not contain the boilers, or the fires would have been immediately extinguished. Captain Anderson ordered the engines stopped at once, and one of the crew was sent down to ascertain the extent of the damage. Within a few minutes the existence of a large hole in the ship’s bottom was discovered, some two yards in diameter. It was impossible to stop such a leak while at sea. And the Scotia, her paddles half submerged, was forced to continue on her course. She was then three hundred miles out from Cape Clear, and it was after a three days’ delay which caused great uneasiness in Liverpool that she limped up to the company’s pier.

The engineers visited the Scotia, which was put in dry-dock. They could scarcely believe the evidence of their own eyes when they saw in the side of the vessel, two and one-half yards below her watermark, a regular rent in the shape of an isosceles triangle. The broken place in the iron plates was so perfectly defined that it could not have been more neatly done by a punch-drill. It was therefore evident that the instrument which caused the perforation was of no common stamp. And after having been driven with terrific force, sufficient to pierce an iron plate one and three-eighths inches thick, the tool, whatever it was, had withdrawn itself by a retrograde motion which was truly inexplicable.

Such was the last fact regarding the marvelous sea monster, which resulted in once more exciting to fever pitch the state of public opinion. From this moment on, all dire casualties which could not be otherwise explained were put down to the score of the prodigy. On this imaginary creature alone rested the responsibility for all queer shipwrecks, the number of which was unhappily considerable. For, out of the three thousand ships whose loss was annually reported at Lloyd’s, sailing and steam ships that, in the absence of all news, were supposed to be totally gone amounted to not less than two hundred.

Now it was the monster that, fairly or unfairly, was accused of almost any vessel’s disappearance. And, thanks to the reputation of this fabulous creature, communication between the different continents became in the popular mind more and more dangerous. The public demanded bruskly that at any cost the seas must be relieved of the presence of this formidable cetacean.

II

TWO SIDES OF AN ARGUMENT

AT THE time that the events described in the last chapter were taking place, I had just returned to New York from a scientific expedition into the bad lands of Nebraska. Because I am an assistant professor in the Museum of Natural History in Paris, the French government had attached me to that tour of research. Now, after a half-year’s sojourn in Nebraska, I had come back to New York toward the end of March, bringing with me a precious collection of specimens. My departure for France was scheduled for the first days of May. In the interim I was occupying myself most busily in classifying my mineralogical, botanical, and zoölogical riches, when the puzzling accident happened to the Scotia.

Of course I knew the subject which was the question of the day by chapter and verse. How could it well be otherwise? For I had read and read again everything the American and European newspapers had had to say about it. But that does not imply that I had come any nearer to a conclusion in the matter. The mystery puzzled me still, and, as I could form no opinion that was satisfying, I kept jumping from one extreme to the other. One thing, and one thing alone, was certain: a monster of some sort existed, and anyone who doubted this fact could be invited politely to place his finger on the gaping wound in the Scotia.

When I got to New York discussion of the question was on every lip. Any belief that the marvel was a floating island or an unapproachable sand bank had been abandoned; in fact, from the beginning such theories had been supported only by minds that were little competent to form a proper judgment. And indeed, unless this shoal should possess a powerful engine in its interior, how could it change its position with such astonishing rapidity? For this very reason people had been forced to give up any idea that the prodigy was the submerged hull of an enormous wreck.

There remained, then, but two possible solutions of the enigma, and the adherents of them constituted two distinct parties. The first subscribed to the notion of a monster of colossal strength, the other was insistent for a submarine vessel of immense motive power.

And yet this last guess, plausible as it might sound, could hardly maintain itself in the light of inquiries which had been set on foot in both Old World and New. It was little likely that a private gentleman should have such a machine at his command. For instance, where, when, and how was it built? And how could its construction have possibly been kept a secret? Certainly a government might reasonably claim to own such a destructive machine. And in these disastrous days, when the ingenuity of man had already multiplied many fold the energy of weapons of warfare, it was possible that without the knowledge of other nations some individual state might try to perfect so formidable an engine.

But the hypothesis of a war machine had to be abandoned because of the declarations made by various governments. These invariably stated that they knew nothing of the matter. And, as the public interest was so vitally involved and would not suffer any lasting interruption to transatlantic communications, the truth of governmental assertions could not be doubted. Besides, under such circumstances, for a private gentleman to keep secret the building of so monstrous an engine would be extremely difficult. But for a state to attempt it, whose every act is persistently watched by rival powers—that was surely impossible.

Searching inquiries were officially made in England, France, Russia, Prussia, Spain, Italy, and America, even in Turkey, but without result. And thus the hypothesis of a submarine monitor was definitely rejected.

Upon my arrival in New York several people did me the honor to consult me as to what I thought regarding the phenomenon. I had published in France a fairly thick work in two volumes, entitled, Mysteries of the Unsounded Depths Undersea. Now this book, well received by the learned world, had gained me a special reputation in this fairly obscure branch of natural history. And so my advice was demanded.

Well, as long as I could deny the reality of the prodigy, I had confined myself to a decided negative. But before many hours I found myself driven into a corner, and without desiring to do so I was obliged to explain my point of view categorically. The New York Herald insisted that the Honorable Pierre Aronnax, professor in the Museum of Paris, express a definite opinion of some sort. And I did. I spoke out chiefly because I had not the courage to hold my tongue. I went into the question from its every angle, politically and scientifically. And so I present here an extract from a carefully considered article which I published in the Herald for April 30. It ran as follows:

After examining one by one the various theories, and after rejecting all other suggestions, it is necessary for us to admit the existence of a marine animal of enormous power.

The great depths of the ocean are entirely unknown to us. Soundings cannot reach them. What passes in those remote depths; what beings live, or can live, twelve to fifteen miles beneath the surface of the waters; what is the organization of these animals, we can scarcely conjecture.

However, the solution of the problem submitted to me may modify the form of the dilemma.

Either we do know all the varieties of beings which people our planet or we do not.

If we do not know them all, if nature has still secrets in ichthyology for us, nothing is more conformable to reason than to admit the existence of fishes, or cetaceans of new species or even new genera, with an organization formed to inhabit the strata inaccessible to soundings, and which an accident of some sort, either fantastical or capricious, has brought at long intervals to the upper level of the ocean.

If, on the contrary, we do know all living kinds, we must necessarily seek for the animal in question among those marine creatures already classed; and in that case I should be disposed to admit the existence of a gigantic narwhal.

The common narwhal, or unicorn of the sea, often attains a length of sixty feet. Increase its size fivefold or tenfold, give it strength proportionable to its size, lengthen its destructive weapons, and you obtain the animal required. It will have the proportions determined by the officers of the Shannon, the instrument required by the perforation of the Scotia, and the power necessary to pierce the hull of the steamer.

Indeed, the narwhal is armed with a sort of ivory sword, a halberd, according to the opinion of certain naturalists. The principal tusk has the hardness of steel. Some of these tusks have been found buried in the bodies of whales, which the unicorn always attacks with success. Others have been drawn out, not without trouble, from the bottoms of ships, which they had pierced through and through, as a gimlet pierces a barrel. The Museum of the Faculty of Medicine of Paris possesses one of these defensive weapons two yards and a quarter in length and fifteen inches in diameter at the base.

Very well! Now suppose this weapon to be ten times stronger, and the animal ten times more powerful. Launch it at the rate of twenty miles an hour and you obtain a shock capable of producing the catastrophe required. Until in receipt of further information, therefore, I shall maintain the creature to be a sea unicorn of colossal dimensions, armed not with a halberd, but with a real spur, as are the armored frigates or rams of war, whose massiveness and motive power it would at the same time possess.

Thus may we explain this inexplicable animal, unless there exists in reality nothing at all, despite what has already been conjectured, seen, perceived, and experienced. Which condition is, of course, just within the bounds of possibility.

The closing words of the above article were cowardly on my part. But, within reasonable bounds, I was anxious to retain my dignity as a professor and not give the Americans cause to mock at me. For, when that race does laugh, it laughs hard. And so I kept for myself a loophole through which I could, in case of need, escape.

Still, to all intents and purposes, I had after all admitted the existence of the monster. My article was warmly received, and free discussion of it everywhere gained for it a high reputation. It soon rallied a goodly number of partisans around it—this, I suppose, because the solution proposed in it gave free scope to the imagination. The human mind rarely fails to delight in grandiose (if misty) pictures of supernatural beings. On land it is difficult for us to conceive of creatures larger than elephants and rhinoceroses, but the depths of ocean appeal to us as precisely the fit abiding place for leviathan creatures of unbelievable size.

The industrial and commercial journals urged that the ocean should be purged of this redoubtable monster. The Shipping and Mercantile Gazette, for example, Lloyd’s List, the Packet-Boat, and especially the Maritime and Colonial Review were unanimous in their attitude. (I grant you that all these papers were owned by insurance companies desirous of increasing their premium rates.)

At last public opinion had taken its stand. And people were not slow to back their new-found faith with action. The United States was first in the field; in New York they at once began preparations for an expedition to pursue this narwhal. A frigate of great speed, the Abraham Lincoln, was put in commission as soon as possible. Government arsenals were placed at the disposal of Commander Farragut, and he pushed forward the arming of the frigate with desperate zeal.

But, as always happens—does it not?—the moment it was decided to pursue the monster, the monster failed to put in an appearance. For two months no word of it was heard. No ship met it. It actually appeared as if the unicorn had somehow got wind of the plots weaving about it. So much had been said of its doings over the Atlantic cable that jesters pretended the creature had intercepted a telegram during its passage over the wire and had thoroughly digested its warnings.

Thus, when the frigate had once been armed for a long campaign and provided with every sort of formidable fishing apparatus, no one could tell what to do next. Everyone had grown feverishly impatient, when, on the 2d of June, it was learned that a steamer on its way from San Francisco to Shanghai had sighted the animal in the North Pacific Ocean just three weeks previously. The excitement caused by this news was extreme. The ship was revictualed and stocked with coal.

Three hours before the Abraham Lincoln left Brooklyn pier, I received a letter worded as follows:

To M. Aronnax, Professor in the Museum of Paris

Fifth Avenue Hotel, New York City

Sir: If you will consent to join the Abraham Lincoln in this expedition the government of the United States will with pleasure see France represented in the enterprise. Commander Farragut is holding a cabin at your disposal.

Very cordially yours,

J. B. HOBSON

Secretary of the Navy

III

I MAKE MY DECISION

THREE seconds before opening the letter of J. B. Hobson, I had no more idea of chasing the unicorn to its lair than of hunting for the Northwest Passage. Three seconds after I had read the Honorable Secretary’s note, I felt that the one aim of my life, my sole true vocation, was to hunt down this disturbing monster and purge the world of it.

Oh, I know! I had just returned from a most fatiguing journey. I was weary and needing nothing so much as a good rest. I had been looking forward (with what longing!) to seeing my France again, my friends, my little dwelling by the Jardin des Plantes, my most dear and precious collections. And then, in a flash, everything was forgotten—fatigue, friends, native country, collections. Nothing could keep me back! I accepted without the slightest hesitation the offer of the American government.

Pshaw! I thought. Do not all roads lead to Europe? And besides, the unicorn may be amiable enough to lead the chase toward the coast of France. As a particular kindness to me this worthy animal may insist on being caught in the seas of Europe. And I shall bring back to the Museum of Natural History not less than half a yard of his ivory halberd.

But in the meanwhile, it is true, I must seek this narwhal in the North Pacific Ocean. And to do that, so far as a voyage to France is concerned, is to acknowledge that the longest way round is the shortest way home.

At this point in my meditations I called in an impatient voice, Conseil!

That was the name of my servant—Conseil—the faithful and devoted Flemish boy who accompanied me on all my travels. I was fond of him, and he returned my affection with interest. By nature he was cool-blooded and slow to move; from principle he was regular and serious of habit. He exhibited little emotion at any surprise that life had in store for him, and yet he was clever with his hands and apt at whatever service might be demanded of him. Despite his name—Counsel—he never offered advice, even when asked to give it.

Conseil had trotted contentedly along at my heels for the last ten years to whatever part of the world science had beckoned me. Not once did he complain of the length or the fatigue of a journey. Never had he objected to packing his grip for any country suggested, no matter how distant from home—whether China or the Congo. Besides all this, he enjoyed the best of health, defied all sickness, was possessed of solid muscles and no nerves. That he was a moral animal is understood. This boy of mine was thirty years of age—just ten years my junior.

Conseil! I cried out again as I commenced to make feverish preparations for departure.

Now, of course, I was sure of the allegiance of this loyal boy. And as a rule I never bothered to ask him whether it was convenient for him to accompany me or not. Still, this time the expedition might turn out to be a prolonged one, and the enterprise itself might prove excessively hazardous. For we were to pursue an animal that could sink a frigate as easily as it could crush a nutshell. Here, then, there was food for reflection, even for the most impassive man alive. What would the lad say?

Conseil! I called out a third time.

The good fellow now made his appearance.

Did you summon me, sir? he asked as he entered my apartment.

Yes, my boy. Get ready at once for our departure. We leave in two hours.

Very good, sir, Conseil answered quietly.

There’s not a moment to lose. Stuff my whole traveling kit in the trunk—coats, shirts, stockings—without waiting to count them. Pack as much as you can, and h-u-r-r-y!

What about your collections, sir? Conseil demanded.

We’ll think of them all in good time.

What, sir! The archiotherium, the hyracotherium, the oreodons, the cheropotamus, and all the other skins?

They will store them for us here in the hotel.

And what about your live babiroussa, sir?

They’ll feed him while we are away. Besides, I am giving orders to forward our menagerie to France.

Oh, we are not going back to Paris then? Conseil asked.

Of course we are, I replied evasively. But we are putting a small curve in the trip home.

Will the curve please you, sir?

It’s hardly worth speaking of, just a nice little curve. The route is not quite so direct as it might be, that’s all. We are taking passage on the ‘Abraham Lincoln.’

Whatever you think best, sir, suits me, Conseil coolly said.

"You see, my dear chap, our business is with the monster—the famous narwhal. We are going to rid the seas of it. The author of a fairly thick work in two volumes on Mysteries of the Unsounded Depths Undersea cannot dodge his duty. We embark with Commander Farragut. A glorious mission, and a risky one! We can’t tell where we may turn up, for these narwhals can be very capricious. But we shall go, whether or no. And I will say that we sail with a captain who is pretty wide awake."

I opened a charge account for the babiroussa’s food and lodging, and with Conseil right on my heels I jumped into a cab. Our baggage was immediately carried to the deck of the frigate. I hastened on board and asked for the commander. One of the sailors conducted me to the poop, where I found myself in the presence of a good-looking officer. He held out his hand to me.

M. Pierre Aronnax? he inquired.

The very same, I answered. And you are Commander Farragut.

You are very welcome, Professor. Your cabin is ready for you.

I bowed my acknowledgments and asked to be led to the stateroom reserved for me.

The Abraham Lincoln had been well chosen and equipped for her new destination. She was a frigate of great speed, fitted with high-pressure engines that admitted a load of seven atmospheres. Under forced draught the Abraham Lincoln could attain the mean speed of nearly eighteen and one-third knots an hour—a considerable speed, and yet one not sufficient to cope with that of the gigantic cetacean.

The interior arrangements of the ship corresponded to its nautical qualities. I was more than content with my comfortable cabin, which was located aft and opened on the gun room.

We shall be well off here, I said to Conseil.

As snug as two bugs in a rug, by your honor’s leave, returned my companion.

I left him to stow our traps conveniently away and remounted the poop in order to witness the interesting preparations for departure.

At that moment Commander Farragut was ordering the last moorings to be cast loose. We were moving slowly away from the pier. If I had delayed another fifteen minutes, or perhaps less, the frigate would have sailed without me. And in that event I should have missed this extraordinary, this incredible trip, the narrative of which I fear will later excite in my reader a certain skepticism. It was evident that Commander Farragut did not intend to lose a day or even an hour in scouring the seas in which the animal had last been sighted. He sent for the engineer.

Steam full on? he asked.

Ay, ay, sir, said the engineer.

Go ahead, the commander ordered.

The Brooklyn quay, and in fact all that part of New York bordering on the East River, was thronged with spectators. Cheers burst successively from

Reviews for Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

[haloedrain · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The narrator has a habit of listing by genus and phylum every single plant and animal he sees and every shipwreck that has occurred in each region he travels to, but I skimed those and the rest was pretty good. I enjoyed the odd combination of 19th-century-style entitlement with surprisingly modern-sounding environmentalism (that species has been nearly hunted to extinction and this may be the last of its kind...let's eat it! or praising nature for creating new coal deposits in the sargasso sea for humanity to use when the land-bound deposits run out, or berating the harpooner for wanting to kill a whale needlessly, then slaughtering a huge group of other whales that came to hunt the first group....) And of course, an ambiguous villain(?) is often enjoyable.

[jonfaith · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Not being familiar with the comparative criticism between Verne and Wells, can only offer that I while I enjoyed Nemo's narrative and the compelling saga presented, I felt it would've benefited from some of Wells' philosophy.

[codonnelly · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

What do you get when you combine marine biology from the late 1800s and an action-adventure classic? 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne, of course!

If you haven’t already read it or seen one of the many film adaptations, the novel follows Professor Arannox, an educated gentleman, and Conseil, his servant, on their search for knowledge within the ocean’s depths. Along the way, they encounter many wonders and meet the acquaintance of some intriguing characters, including the mysterious Captain Nemo.

When the plot focuses on the conflicts our cast of characters face on their journey, the pages fly by. From kidnappings to shipwrecks, a lot happens in what could be considered a rather short novel. Unfortunately, where there’s adventure, there’s also quite a lot of seemingly unnecessary description. Much of the book focuses on various characters making observations about fish. Unless you’re a scientist with a keen interest in the biological classification of sea creatures, there’s not much that will intrigue you in those passages. The descriptions that did not bother me were those that detailed the intricacies of Captain Nemo’s vessel, the Nautilus. At the time the novel was published, submarines were still incredibly primitive, so it’s impressive that Verne was able to predict the future, in a manner of speaking.

All of the main and supporting characters are fascinating, to say the least. Professor Aronnax values knowledge over freedom, Conseil takes great pride in his subservient position, Ned Land has a bloodlust for the hunt, and Captain Nemo, well, we don’t know much about him, do we? The level of secrecy he exudes kept me engaged until the bitter end. Verne has a subtle way with dialogue too. There were many moments, particularly in interactions between Ned and Conseil, which left me chuckling to myself.

20,000 Leagues is a classic for a reason. As much as I disliked the long scientific passages, the novel certainly has its merits. If you’re bothered by the extensive marine life descriptions, I highly recommend skimming or skipping them completely if you’re concerned that they’re ruining your reading experience.

[angelab86 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I loved all the descriptions of underwater life, and the different places the characters visit. I wanted to become a marine biologist after I finished reading!

[angelag86 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I loved all the descriptions of underwater life, and the different places the characters visit. I wanted to become a marine biologist after I finished reading!

[geoffhabiger · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is one of those classic science fiction books that should be on any science fiction fans reading list. Being around so long (Verne originally published the book in 1869), and available in so many versions, translations, and media, can make reviewing the book difficult. Most readers either have read the book, or will want to read it because it is one of the "classics" of the science fiction genre. That caveat being said, here's my review of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. The story opens with reports of strange sightings and damage to ships by an unknown creature. The narrator, Pierre Aronnax, is a professor of the natural sciences and a medical doctor from Paris. While returning from a trip to collect fossils and other specimens from Nebraska he is given a chance to hunt down this mysterious monster aboard the ship, Abraham Lincoln. Aronnax has previously hypothesized that the creature responsible for the encounters is a large form of narwhal. Joining Aronnax on the trip is his servant, Conseil, and a whaler and harpooner, Ned Land. The Abraham Lincoln eventually encounters the supposed monster, and the three men are thrown overboard when the creature rams the ship. They are miraculously rescued when they discover that it was not a creature at all, but a submersible boat. The rest of the novel covers the various adventures and settings that Aronnax and the others discover while being the "guests" of Captain Nemo, the builder of the famed Nautilus. As with most of Verne's works, the story is told in the form of a travelogue, with the story being recounted as if reading from a journal or interview with the narrator - Professor Aronnax. The stories of adventure - traveling under Suez, hunting in a kelp forest, seeking the South Pole and being trapped in ice, and the famous attack of the Nautilus by giant squid - are interspersed with more sedate discussions of the workings of the ship, or the Professor's enthrallment with Captain Nemo. That is quite interesting since Nemo has essentially captured the three men and refuses them to ever leave the Nautilus again. Verne's gift is to create a thrilling adventure and to expound upon the wonders of technology. His description of the Nautilus and its operation is decades ahead of its time. He even describes a practical, and nearly identical to the modern equivalent, SCUBA system for breathing underwater that was about 80 years ahead of its time. Verne does miss the mark with many of his speculations about the natural world. He didn't foresee the theory of plate tectonics, and his description of Antarctica misses the mark. (And I give him creative license to include the fabled Atlantis - it was an adventure story after all.) But that doesn't detract from the adventure story that he is telling.My biggest problem with the story is with the characters. Verne spends so much time recounting the travelogue of Aronnax that the characters are not fleshed out. The only one who seems real is Aronnax himself. His two companions, the forgettable Conseil and the stereotyped Ned Land (who's last name is entirely reflected in his constant desire to flee the Nautilus) are mere window dressings for Aronnax, somebody he can reflect his own ideas upon. But what is really annoying is that we get to know so very little about Captain Nemo himself. A suburb engineer, master of the sea, fearless and stoic in the face of danger, we learn so little about his character. There are many secrets about Nemo that Verne teases the reader with, but we are never shown the answers to them, such as his motivations, the reason he quit the land to forever roam the sea, or his past. That was a disappointment. If you are a fan of science fiction I recommend that you read Verne's classic at some point. Even among his own works I do not consider it to be his best, but it is worth the read to see the early works of the science fiction genre. If you want to listen to the work (like I did) I do highly recommend the version from Tantor Media narrated by Michael Prichard. I am familiar with Prichard's narration from other works and he again delivers a great performance here. (I checked out this version from my local library.)

[geraldlange · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The story showed promise and I can sympathise with Nemo. Unfortunately, the author uses the whole thing as a vehicle to tell the world (or just France; I forget who he's trying to impress) how smart he is. Verne should have read more Wells before trying to write.

[srboone · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Vernes undersea adventure is an amazing trip that I've taken many times. Although history has proven his vision to be incorrect on many occasions in this yarn, it is still a mesmerizing odyssey. One of my favorite books.

[carlar_82074 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I have tried reading this book before and never finished it. I thought that I would sit down, read, and not pick up another book until I finished this one. I now understand why I couldn't finish it the first time.This book was by no means a bad book, in fact it is a wonderful book. The writing was pretty good and the story itself was pretty awesome. I am sure that if I had been able to read it in 1870 or even 1900 then it would have been a mind blower. Unfortunately I have not yet finished constructing my time machine, so here I am in 2007 reading it. What detracted from the story for me was the amount of description.. mainly because I have seen subs, I have seen what lays under the sea, and nothing is new to me (well that's not entirely true). It is quite remarkable that in the time that it was written that Verne would have so much insight though... truly remarkable.

[m_mozeleski · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I suppose that as an 'abridged just for you' version of a book, I shouldn't have had my expectations up so high. But I did, and while the overall novel was great, I really, really wanted more out of this book. Especially description-wise. It kept cutting out halfway or jumping from item to item so quickly I got minor whiplash. I am unsure if an unabridged version exists, but I hope it finds its way to me at some point.

However, all that being said, I rather enjoyed the novel. It was fantastic, if a bit brief.

[blenny_2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

There are some really good ideas in this book - The ideal of Captain Nemo's freedom, travelling in a wonderful and (at the time when it was written) innovative contraption The Nautilus, exploring the globe and not conforming to society in any way. The story was gripping in places but I had very high expectations of how fantastical this book was going to be, so I was a little bit disappointed at the lack of consistency regarding the excitement rating in the storytelling. Journey To The Centre Of The Earth is much better!

[paul1meloche · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

a good read

[jco123_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An excellent classic. Lots of stuff that I did not remember
about the book. Captain Nemo was way ahead of his time...

[hredwards · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Awesome book!! I now understand why Verne is considered one of the Masters.One of my favorites in my collection, an old old copy.

[aiufjcf · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I first read this book when i was about 12, and now it's all worn out. I love it!

[soylentgreen23 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

At first I thought that the title implied a great depth, but no, 20,000 leagues is how far our adventures sail, submerged in Captain Nemo's early submarine.Verne's dramatic descriptions are spot-on as always, but he does grow tiresome sometimes when he insists on naming every species observed under the sea - down to the genus and everything. This is a classic adventure that remains very much of its time without really sharing anything terribly special, unlike some of his other work - especially "80 Days."

[reading_fox · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The bits without the sea/fish discriptions are quite good. Shame there are so many discriptive passages.

[cataryna_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

An okay read for me. Highly detailed, but those details tended to get a bit long-winded and I found myself getting bored with them after a while. I would have liked a little more insight into the personality of Captain Nemo and exactly what happened to make him shun the world. I felt like that was a very important part that seemed to be missing.

[thereadingmermaid · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

How to begin... there are some aspects of this book that were extremely fascinating and the adventure that Jules Verne writes is captivating. What I did not care for were the excessive uses of nautical terms as well as zoological/biological terms used to describe everything in the book. Perhaps it is just more evidence of the dumbing down of society as we no longer describe things in these fashions and makes it difficult for the reader of today to follow. Even with the author's fluent and graceful writing. The thing that most irritated me, was that all my life I've been led to think the Nautilus was attacked by a giant squid when that chapter in the book was described VERY differently! However, I guess I cannot fault the original story for how other interpretations have distorted it. Still, I can see why this book is so timeless and I encourage everyone to give it a read to enjoy the great adventure with mad Captain Nemo under the sea.

[sasham-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book shows the true roots of science fiction. A story so fully of carefully researched facts about the various oceans of the world and the fish and plant life in them that you could almost believe that the nautilus and captain nemo did exist and the wonders they showed our narrator exsisted as well.
Science fiction is about taking what we know and expanding it just that little bit more into the impossible. Or the one day maybe possible and then seeing what might happen.
Quiet apart from that this is a story that brings home the massive change in attitude our society has had in regard to the environment and its study. Nemo himself is somewhat of a conservationist "this would be killing for the sake of killing" he tells Ned the harpooner. He kills willingly for food or in his search for revenge but will not be party to senseless destruction.
We never learn what Nemo actually hopes to achieve or what happens to the nautilus in the end. In many ways I think this would have added to the believability of the story when it was first published.

[ani_na_3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

For reasons I cannot now comprehend, I checked this book out of my school library in second grade and read it all through class. Also for reasons I can't explain, I LOVED it. Which is why it has a five star rating, even though in all honest consideration it's probably not that great. I can't even be honest anymore; it's stuck to my memory like a twig between teeth, ever-present and slightly minty tasting. There are some very involved politics here, interesting from an anti-nuclear-war position. I was fascinated with the use of sea life for supplies as a child, and the imagined technology of the submarine has held up surprisingly well. If either of those things interest you, pick this book up. I'd also recommend it for anyone interested in older science-fiction, or for those reading through the Verne canon (of which I think this is the best). Otherwise, well, the five stars aren't as brilliant as they might appear.

[csdaley-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This rating is a childhood rating. Hooked me on Science Fiction when I read it.

[nx74defiant · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed the descriptions

[michael_rose-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Probably my biggest take away from this is that one must always watch out for the cult mentality. It's quite lethal.

[empress8411 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book intrigued me more than I expect, given the profoundly boring first few pages. Once the narrator finally was aboard the Nautilus, Verne's ability as a science fiction adventure write bloomed. He described dazzling underwater worlds, strange men and animals, and mysteries of the depth with excellent prose. I can see why this is a classic science fiction novel. Recommend for the ocean lover and the nerd alike.

[mrs3graysclass · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Good book !

[mbmackay · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A classic that I had always meant to read . . .The first thing I learned was that I had always been in error in my expectations from the title. I had thought that the ship had descended 20,000 leagues under the ocean, but, of course, the submarine had merely undertaken a journey of 20,000 league while submerged. As a result, the speculative science basis for the book was much better grounded, and Verne gets many things right - along with a series of clangers.I had recently read Edgar Allan Poe, and found many similarities in their approach to early science fiction (to creating the genre of science fiction, really). A good read.Read March 2017

[morana.mora · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved this story when I was a kid and my rating is based on those memories. I doubt I would rate it lower if I read it again.

[jaredorlando-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

To be upfront, I thought there would be a lot more action in this story. I never read it in school, so coming at it as an adult was intriguing. That being said, I was not let down. Verne is very versed in sea life (this book is chock full of jargon) and as a science nerd, it was fascinating. And somehow, through all the science and tech, he was able to create a story that is often exhilarating.

[briandarvell_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I've long wanted to read the story of Captain Nemo and the undersea adventures of 20000 Leagues Under the Sea. I'm now glad to have read it and overall enjoyed the story. I can understand how this story had such a large impression on society in the late 1800s and early 1900s where life under the oceans was almost a complete mystery. I found the novel a bit dry and slow at parts but it was still a pleasure to read. For those looking to read a novel which had such huge impact on the development of science fiction one needs not look further than this.