CHAPTER 7

A Whale of Unknown Species

ALTHOUGH I WAS startled by this unexpected descent, I at least have a

very clear recollection of my sensations during it.

At first I was dragged about twenty feet under. I’m a good swimmer,

without claiming to equal such other authors as Byron and Edgar Allan

Poe, who were master divers, and I didn’t lose my head on the way

down. With two vigorous kicks of the heel, I came back to the surface

of the sea.

My first concern was to look for the frigate. Had the crew seen me go

overboard? Was the Abraham Lincoln tacking about? Would Commander

Farragut put a longboat to sea? Could I hope to be rescued?

The gloom was profound. I glimpsed a black mass disappearing eastward,

where its running lights were fading out in the distance. It was the

frigate. I felt I was done for.

“Help! Help!” I shouted, swimming desperately toward the Abraham

Lincoln.

My clothes were weighing me down. The water glued them to my body,

they were paralyzing my movements. I was sinking! I was suffocating

. . . !

“Help!”

This was the last shout I gave. My mouth was filling with water. I

struggled against being dragged into the depths. . . .

Suddenly my clothes were seized by energetic hands, I felt myself

pulled abruptly back to the surface of the sea, and yes, I heard these

words pronounced in my ear:

“If master would oblige me by leaning on my shoulder, master will swim

with much greater ease.”

With one hand I seized the arm of my loyal Conseil.

“You!” I said. “You!”

“Myself,” Conseil replied, “and at master’s command.”

“That collision threw you overboard along with me?”

“Not at all. But being in master’s employ, I followed master.”

The fine lad thought this only natural!

“What about the frigate?” I asked.

“The frigate?” Conseil replied, rolling over on his back. “I think

master had best not depend on it to any great extent!”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that just as I jumped overboard, I heard the men at the

helm shout, ‘Our propeller and rudder are smashed!’ ”

“Smashed?”

“Yes, smashed by the monster’s tusk! I believe it’s the sole injury

the Abraham Lincoln has sustained. But most inconveniently for us, the

ship can no longer steer.”

“Then we’re done for!”

“Perhaps,” Conseil replied serenely. “However, we still have a few

hours before us, and in a few hours one can do a great many things!”

Conseil’s unflappable composure cheered me up. I swam more vigorously,

but hampered by clothes that were as restricting as a cloak made of

lead, I was managing with only the greatest difficulty. Conseil

noticed as much.

“Master will allow me to make an incision,” he said.

And he slipped an open clasp knife under my clothes, slitting them

from top to bottom with one swift stroke. Then he briskly undressed me

while I swam for us both.

I then did Conseil the same favor, and we continued to “navigate” side

by side.

But our circumstances were no less dreadful. Perhaps they hadn’t seen

us go overboard; and even if they had, the frigate—being undone by its

rudder—couldn’t return to leeward after us. So we could count only on

its longboats.

Conseil had coolly reasoned out this hypothesis and laid his plans

accordingly. An amazing character, this boy; in midocean, this stoic

lad seemed right at home!

So, having concluded that our sole chance for salvation lay in being

picked up by the Abraham Lincoln’s longboats, we had to take steps to

wait for them as long as possible. Consequently, I decided to divide

our energies so we wouldn’t both be worn out at the same time, and

this was the arrangement: while one of us lay on his back, staying

motionless with arms crossed and legs outstretched, the other would

swim and propel his partner forward. This towing role was to last no

longer than ten minutes, and by relieving each other in this way, we

could stay afloat for hours, perhaps even until daybreak.

Slim chance, but hope springs eternal in the human breast! Besides,

there were two of us. Lastly, I can vouch—as improbable as it

seems—that even if I had wanted to destroy all my illusions, even if I

had been willing to “give in to despair,” I could not have done so!

The cetacean had rammed our frigate at about eleven o’clock in the

evening. I therefore calculated on eight hours of swimming until

sunrise. A strenuous task, but feasible, thanks to our relieving each

other. The sea was pretty smooth and barely tired us. Sometimes I

tried to peer through the dense gloom, which was broken only by the

phosphorescent flickers coming from our movements. I stared at the

luminous ripples breaking over my hands, shimmering sheets spattered

with blotches of bluish gray. It seemed as if we’d plunged into a pool

of quicksilver.

Near one o’clock in the morning, I was overcome with tremendous

exhaustion. My limbs stiffened in the grip of intense cramps. Conseil

had to keep me going, and attending to our self-preservation became

his sole responsibility. I soon heard the poor lad gasping; his

breathing became shallow and quick. I didn’t think he could stand such

exertions for much longer.

“Go on! Go on!” I told him.

“Leave master behind?” he replied. “Never! I’ll drown before he does!”

Just then, past the fringes of a large cloud that the wind was driving

eastward, the moon appeared. The surface of the sea glistened under

its rays. That kindly light rekindled our strength. I held up my head

again. My eyes darted to every point of the horizon. I spotted the

frigate. It was five miles from us and formed no more than a dark,

barely perceptible mass. But as for longboats, not a one in sight!

I tried to call out. What was the use at such a distance! My swollen

lips wouldn’t let a single sound through. Conseil could still

articulate a few words, and I heard him repeat at intervals:

“Help! Help!”

Ceasing all movement for an instant, we listened. And it may have been

a ringing in my ear, from this organ filling with impeded blood, but

it seemed to me that Conseil’s shout had received an answer back.

“Did you hear that?” I muttered.

“Yes, yes!”

And Conseil hurled another desperate plea into space.

This time there could be no mistake! A human voice had answered us!

Was it the voice of some poor devil left behind in midocean, some

other victim of that collision suffered by our ship? Or was it one of

the frigate’s longboats, hailing us out of the gloom?

Conseil made one final effort, and bracing his hands on my shoulders,

while I offered resistance with one supreme exertion, he raised

himself half out of the water, then fell back exhausted.

“What did you see?”

“I saw . . . ,” he muttered, “I saw . . . but we mustn’t talk

. . . save our strength . . . !”

What had he seen? Then, lord knows why, the thought of the monster

came into my head for the first time . . . ! But even so, that voice

. . . ? Gone are the days when Jonahs took refuge in the bellies of

whales!

Nevertheless, Conseil kept towing me. Sometimes he looked up, stared

straight ahead, and shouted a request for directions, which was

answered by a voice that was getting closer and closer. I could barely

hear it. I was at the end of my strength; my fingers gave out; my

hands were no help to me; my mouth opened convulsively, filling with

brine; its coldness ran through me; I raised my head one last time,

then I collapsed. . . .

Just then something hard banged against me. I clung to it. Then I felt

myself being pulled upward, back to the surface of the water; my chest

caved in, and I fainted. . . .

For certain, I came to quickly, because someone was massaging me so

vigorously it left furrows in my flesh. I half opened my eyes. . . .

“Conseil!” I muttered.

“Did master ring for me?” Conseil replied.

Just then, in the last light of a moon settling on the horizon, I

spotted a face that wasn’t Conseil’s but which I recognized at once.

“Ned!” I exclaimed.

“In person, sir, and still after his prize!” the Canadian replied.

“You were thrown overboard after the frigate’s collision?”

“Yes, professor, but I was luckier than you, and right away I was able

to set foot on this floating islet.”

“Islet?”

“Or in other words, on our gigantic narwhale.”

“Explain yourself, Ned.”

“It’s just that I soon realized why my harpoon got blunted and

couldn’t puncture its hide.”

“Why, Ned, why?”

“Because, professor, this beast is made of boilerplate steel!”

At this point in my story, I need to get a grip on myself, reconstruct

exactly what I experienced, and make doubly sure of everything I

write.

The Canadian’s last words caused a sudden upheaval in my brain. I

swiftly hoisted myself to the summit of this half-submerged creature

or object that was serving as our refuge. I tested it with my

foot. Obviously it was some hard, impenetrable substance, not the soft

matter that makes up the bodies of our big marine mammals.

But this hard substance could have been a bony carapace, like those

that covered some prehistoric animals, and I might have left it at

that and classified this monster among such amphibious reptiles as

turtles or alligators.

Well, no. The blackish back supporting me was smooth and polished with

no overlapping scales. On impact, it gave off a metallic sonority, and

as incredible as this sounds, it seemed, I swear, to be made of

riveted plates.

No doubts were possible! This animal, this monster, this natural

phenomenon that had puzzled the whole scientific world, that had

muddled and misled the minds of seamen in both hemispheres, was, there

could be no escaping it, an even more astonishing phenomenon—a

phenomenon made by the hand of man.

Even if I had discovered that some fabulous, mythological creature

really existed, it wouldn’t have given me such a terrific mental

jolt. It’s easy enough to accept that prodigious things can come from

our Creator. But to find, all at once, right before your eyes, that

the impossible had been mysteriously achieved by man himself: this

staggers the mind!

But there was no question now. We were stretched out on the back of

some kind of underwater boat that, as far as I could judge, boasted

the shape of an immense steel fish. Ned Land had clear views on the

issue. Conseil and I could only line up behind him.

“But then,” I said, “does this contraption contain some sort of

locomotive mechanism, and a crew to run it?”

“Apparently,” the harpooner replied. “And yet for the three hours I’ve

lived on this floating island, it hasn’t shown a sign of life.”

“This boat hasn’t moved at all?”

“No, Professor Aronnax. It just rides with the waves, but otherwise it

hasn’t stirred.”

“But we know that it’s certainly gifted with great speed. Now then,

since an engine is needed to generate that speed, and a mechanic to

run that engine, I conclude: we’re saved.”

“Humph!” Ned Land put in, his tone denoting reservations.

Just then, as if to take my side in the argument, a bubbling began

astern of this strange submersible—whose drive mechanism was obviously

a propeller—and the boat started to move. We barely had time to hang

on to its topside, which emerged about eighty centimeters above

water. Fortunately its speed was not excessive.

“So long as it navigates horizontally,” Ned Land muttered, “I’ve no

complaints. But if it gets the urge to dive, I wouldn’t give $2.00 for

my hide!”

The Canadian might have quoted a much lower price. So it was

imperative to make contact with whatever beings were confined inside

the plating of this machine. I searched its surface for an opening or

a hatch, a “manhole,” to use the official term; but the lines of

rivets had been firmly driven into the sheet-iron joins and were

straight and uniform.

Moreover, the moon then disappeared and left us in profound

darkness. We had to wait for daylight to find some way of getting

inside this underwater boat.

So our salvation lay totally in the hands of the mysterious helmsmen

steering this submersible, and if it made a dive, we were done for!

But aside from this occurring, I didn’t doubt the possibility of our

making contact with them. In fact, if they didn’t produce their own

air, they inevitably had to make periodic visits to the surface of the

ocean to replenish their oxygen supply. Hence the need for some

opening that put the boat’s interior in contact with the atmosphere.

As for any hope of being rescued by Commander Farragut, that had to be

renounced completely. We were being swept westward, and I estimate

that our comparatively moderate speed reached twelve miles per

hour. The propeller churned the waves with mathematical regularity,

sometimes emerging above the surface and throwing phosphorescent spray

to great heights.

Near four o’clock in the morning, the submersible picked up speed. We

could barely cope with this dizzying rush, and the waves battered us

at close range. Fortunately Ned’s hands came across a big mooring ring

fastened to the topside of this sheet-iron back, and we all held on

for dear life.

Finally this long night was over. My imperfect memories won’t let me

recall my every impression of it. A single detail comes back to

me. Several times, during various lulls of wind and sea, I thought I

heard indistinct sounds, a sort of elusive harmony produced by distant

musical chords. What was the secret behind this underwater navigating,

whose explanation the whole world had sought in vain? What beings

lived inside this strange boat? What mechanical force allowed it to

move about with such prodigious speed?

Daylight appeared. The morning mists surrounded us, but they soon

broke up. I was about to proceed with a careful examination of the

hull, whose topside formed a sort of horizontal platform, when I felt

it sinking little by little.

“Oh, damnation!” Ned Land shouted, stamping his foot on the resonant

sheet iron. “Open up there, you antisocial navigators!”

But it was difficult to make yourself heard above the deafening beats

of the propeller. Fortunately this submerging movement stopped.

From inside the boat, there suddenly came noises of iron fastenings

pushed roughly aside. One of the steel plates flew up, a man appeared,

gave a bizarre yell, and instantly disappeared.

A few moments later, eight strapping fellows appeared silently, their

faces like masks, and dragged us down into their fearsome machine.