Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea is a novel written by Jules Verne in 1870. It follows the journey of a group of men that consists of a French biologist, a Canadian harpooner, and their assistants, in search of a “monster” that is destroying ships in the Pacific Ocean. The creature has been seen by and has damaged ships from many different countries. Sailors, and much of the public, claim it to be a giant narwhal. The group, sent by the United States to find the creature, sets sail from Brooklyn and travels around South America to the Pacific where they first encounter the “monster.” The “monster” ends up damaging the ship and three crewmembers, the biologist, harpooner, and assistant, are knocked overboard. They land on the monster, only to discover its skin is not tough hide, but metal. The creature they have been following is actually Captain Nemo’s ship, the Nautilus. The crewmembers are taken captive, and Nemo chooses not to release them because they may disclose his existence to the public. While in captivity, the crewmembers experience the action received by the Nautilus, |  |
which include attacks from an opposing ship and a giant squid. At the tail end of the novel, the Nautilus falls into a strong and powerful whirlpool known as a "maelstrom." As the Nautilus struggles against the waters, the crewmembers take the opportunity to escape. The fate of Captain Nemo and his crew in the Nautilus is never disclosed.
The Mysterious Island
The Mysterious Island is Jules Verne’s sequel to Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea that tells the adventure of five U.S. prisoners of war escaping the tensions of the Civil War. They hijack a balloon and crash on an island, where they establish a home and all means of survival, including a small ship. Mysterious events begin to transpire, including the discovery of a message in a bottle that tells of someone on another island nearby. The possible existence of this person prompts the escapees to explore the island. They return to their camp to find that a group of pirates has invaded their home. Unexplainably, the pirates are found dead with no wounds. Soon, they discover that the island is home and port to Captain Nemo and his vessel, the Nautilus. He is behind all of the strange occurrences that have been happening. Nemo warns them that the volcano on the island will soon erupt and leave them with almost no land left to use as a sanctuary. Shortly after, Nemo dies of old age and is put in the Nautilus to be sent out to sea. The five adventurers are rescued by another ship, the Duncan. |  |
