20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
By Jules Verne
Captain Nemo commands the Nautilus through ocean depths in search of adventure and freedom.
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations An old grey-bearded gunner . . . . Captain Nemo’s state-room Captain Nemo took the Sun’s altitude I was ready to set out Conseil seized his gun All fel...
A SHIFTING REEF The year 1866 was signalised by a remarkable incident, a mysterious and puzzling phenomenon, which doubtless no one has yet forgotten. Not to mention rumours which...
PRO AND CON At the period when these events took place, I had just returned from a scientific research in the disagreeable territory of Nebraska, in the United States. In virtue o...
I FORM MY RESOLUTION Three seconds before the arrival of J. B. Hobson’s letter, I no more thought of pursuing the unicorn than of attempting the passage of the North Sea. Three se...
NED LAND Captain Farragut was a good seaman, worthy of the frigate he commanded. His vessel and he were one. He was the soul of it. On the question of the cetacean there was no do...
AT A VENTURE The voyage of the _Abraham Lincoln_ was for a long time marked by no special incident. But one circumstance happened which showed the wonderful dexterity of Ned Land,...
AT FULL STEAM At this cry the whole ship’s crew hurried towards the harpooner,—commander, officers, masters, sailors, cabin boys; even the engineers left their engines, and the st...
AN UNKNOWN SPECIES OF WHALE This unexpected fall so stunned me that I have no clear recollection of my sensations at the time. I was at first drawn down to a depth of about twenty...
MOBILIS IN MOBILI This forcible abduction, so roughly carried out, was accomplished with the rapidity of lightning. I shivered all over. Whom had we to deal with? No doubt some ne...
NED LAND’S TEMPERS How long we slept I do not know; but our sleep must have lasted long, for it rested us completely from our fatigues. I woke first. My companions had not moved, ...
THE MAN OF THE SEAS It was the commander of the vessel who thus spoke. At these words, Ned Land rose suddenly. The steward, nearly strangled, tottered out on a sign from his mast...
ALL BY ELECTRICITY “Sir,” said Captain Nemo, showing me the instruments hanging on the walls of his room, “here are the contrivances required for the navigation of the _Nautilus_....
SOME FIGURES A moment after we were seated on a divan in the saloon smoking. The Captain showed me a sketch that gave the plan, section, and elevation of the _Nautilus_. Then he b...
THE BLACK RIVER The portion of the terrestrial globe which is covered by water is estimated at upwards of eighty millions of acres. This fluid mass comprises two billions two hund...
A NOTE OF INVITATION The next day was the 9th of November. I awoke after a long sleep of twelve hours. Conseil came, according to custom, to know “how I had passed the night,” and...
A WALK ON THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA This cell was, to speak correctly, the arsenal and wardrobe of the _Nautilus_. A dozen diving apparatuses hung from the partition, waiting our use....
A SUBMARINE FOREST We had at last arrived on the borders of this forest, doubtless one of the finest of Captain Nemo’s immense domains. He looked upon it as his own, and considere...
FOUR THOUSAND LEAGUES UNDER THE PACIFIC The next morning, the 18th of November, I had quite recovered from my fatigues of the day before, and I went up on to the platform, just as...
VANIKORO This terrible spectacle was the forerunner of the series of maritime catastrophes that the _Nautilus_ was destined to meet with in its route. As long as it went through m...
TORRES STRAITS During the night of the 27th or 28th of December, the _Nautilus_ left the shores of Vanikoro with great speed. Her course was south-westerly, and in three days she ...
A FEW DAYS ON LAND I was much impressed on touching land. Ned Land tried the soil with his feet, as if to take possession of it. However, it was only two months before that we had...
CAPTAIN NEMO’S THUNDERBOLT We looked at the edge of the forest without rising, my hand stopping in the action of putting it to my mouth, Ned Land’s completing its office. “Stones...
“ÆGRI SOMNIA” The following day 10th January, the _Nautilus_ continued her course between two seas, but with such remarkable speed that I could not estimate it at less than thirty...
THE CORAL KINGDOM The next day I woke with my head singularly clear. To my great surprise, I was in my own room. My companions, no doubt, had been reinstated in their cabin, witho...
THE INDIAN OCEAN We now come to the second part of our journey under the sea. The first ended with the moving scene in the coral cemetery which left such a deep impression on my m...
A NOVEL PROPOSAL OF CAPTAIN NEMO’S On the 28th of February, when at noon the _Nautilus_ came to the surface of the sea, in 9° 4′ N. lat., there was land in sight about eight miles...
A PEARL OF TEN MILLIONS The next morning at four o’clock I was awakened by the steward whom Captain Nemo had placed at my service. I rose hurriedly, dressed, and went into the sal...
THE RED SEA In the course of the day of the 29th of January, the island of Ceylon disappeared under the horizon, and the _Nautilus_, at a speed of twenty miles an hour, slid into ...
THE ARABIAN TUNNEL That same evening, in 21° 30′ N. lat., the _Nautilus_ floated on the surface of the sea, approaching the Arabian coast. I saw Djeddah, the most important counti...
THE GRECIAN ARCHIPELAGO The next day, the 12th of February, at the dawn of day, the _Nautilus_ rose to the surface. I hastened on to the platform. Three miles to the south the dim...
THE MEDITERRANEAN IN FORTY-EIGHT HOURS The Mediterranean, the blue sea par excellence, “the great sea” of the Hebrews, “the sea” of the Greeks, the “mare nostrum” of the Romans, b...
VIGO BAY The Atlantic! a vast sheet of water whose superficial area covers twenty-five millions of square miles, the length of which is nine thousand miles, with a mean breadth of...
A VANISHED CONTINENT The next morning, the 19th of February, I saw the Canadian enter my room. I expected this visit. He looked very disappointed. “Well, sir?” said he. “Well, N...
THE SUBMARINE COAL-MINES The next day, the 20th of February, I awoke very late: the fatigues of the previous night had prolonged my sleep until eleven o’clock. I dressed quickly, ...
THE SARGASSO SEA That day the _Nautilus_ crossed a singular part of the Atlantic Ocean. No one can be ignorant of the existence of a current of warm water known by the name of the...
CACHALOTS AND WHALES During the nights of the 13th and 14th of March, the _Nautilus_ returned to its southerly course. I fancied that, when on a level with Cape Horn, he would tur...
THE ICEBERG The _Nautilus_ was steadily pursuing its southerly course, following the fiftieth meridian with considerable speed. Did he wish to reach the pole? I did not think so, ...
THE SOUTH POLE I rushed on to the platform. Yes! the open sea, with but a few scattered pieces of ice and moving icebergs—a long stretch of sea; a world of birds in the air, and m...
ACCIDENT OR INCIDENT? The next day, the 22nd of March, at six in the morning, preparations for departure were begun. The last gleams of twilight were melting into night. The cold ...
WANT OF AIR Thus around the _Nautilus_, above and below, was an impenetrable wall of ice. We were prisoners to the iceberg. I watched the Captain. His countenance had resumed its ...
FROM CAPE HORN TO THE AMAZON How I got on to the platform, I have no idea; perhaps the Canadian had carried me there. But I breathed, I inhaled the vivifying sea-air. My two compa...
THE POULPS For several days the _Nautilus_ kept off from the American coast. Evidently it did not wish to risk the tides of the Gulf of Mexico or of the sea of the Antilles. April...
THE GULF STREAM This terrible scene of the 20th of April none of us can ever forget. I have written it under the influence of violent emotion. Since then I have revised the recita...
FROM LATITUDE 47° 24′ TO LONGITUDE 17° 28′ In consequence of the storm, we had been thrown eastward once more. All hope of escape on the shores of New York or St. Lawrence had fad...
A HECATOMB The way of describing this unlooked-for scene, the history of the patriot ship, told at first so coldly, and the emotion with which this strange man pronounced the last...
THE LAST WORDS OF CAPTAIN NEMO The panels had closed on this dreadful vision, but light had not returned to the saloon: all was silence and darkness within the _Nautilus_. At wond...
CONCLUSION Thus ends the voyage under the seas. What passed during that night—how the boat escaped from the eddies of the maelstrom—how Ned Land, Conseil, and myself ever came out...