menu_book Chapter 35

CHAPTER XI. The Nautilus didn't change direction. For the time being, then, we had to set aside any hope of returning to the European seas. Captain Nemo kept his prowl pointing south. Where was he taking us? I was afraid to guess. That day the Nautilus crossed an odd part of the Atlantic Ocean. No one is unaware of the existence of that great warm water current known by name as the Gulf

Stream. After emerging from channels off Florida, it heads towards Spitsbergen. But before entering the Gulf of Mexico near latitude 44 degrees north, this current divides into two arms. Its chief arm makes for the shores of Ireland and Norway, while the second flexes southward at the level of the Azores. Then it hits the coast of Africa, sweeps in a long oval, and returns to the Caribbean Sea. Now then, this second arm, more accurately a collar, forms a ring of warm water around a section of

cool, tranquil, motionless ocean called the Sargasso Sea. This is an actual lake in the open Atlantic, and the great current's waters take at least three years to circle it. Properly speaking, the Sargasso Sea covers every submerged part of Atlantis. Certain authors have even held that many weeds strewn over the sea were torn loose from the prairies of that ancient continent. But it's more likely that these grasses, algae, and phuchus plants were carried off from the beaches of Europe

and America, then taken as far as this zone by the Gulf Stream. This is one of the reasons why Christopher Columbus assumed the existence of a new world. When the ships of that bold investigator arrived in the Sargasso Sea, they had great difficulty navigating in the midst of these weeds, which, much to their crew's dismay, slowed them down to a halt, and they wasted three long weeks crossing this sector. Such was the region Arnottilus was visiting just then. A genuine prairie,

a tightly woven carpet of algae, Gulfweed, and bladder rack so dense and compact, a craft's stem post couldn't tear through it without difficulty. Accordingly, not wanting to entangle his propeller in this weed-choked mass, Captain Nemo stayed at a depth some meters below the surface of the waves. The name Sargasso comes from the Spanish word sargazo, meaning golfweed. This golfweed, the swimming golfweed or berry carrier, is the chief substance making up this

immense shoal. And here's why these water plants collect in this placid Atlantic basin, according to the expert on the subject, Commander Mori, author of The Physical Geography of the Sea. The explanation he gives seems to entail a set of conditions that everybody knows. Now, Mori says, if bits of cork or chaff or any floating substance be put into a basin and a circular motion be given to the water, all the light substances will be found crowding together near the center of the

pool where there is the least motion. Just such a basin in the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf Stream and the Sargasso Sea is the center of the world. I share Mori's view and I was able to study the phenomenon in this exclusive setting where ships rarely go. Above us huddled among the brown weeds their floated objects originating from all over. Tree trunks ripped from rocky mountains or the Andes and sent floating down the Amazon or the Mississippi. Numerous pieces of wreckage,

remnants of keels or undersides, bulwarks staved in and so weighted down with seashells and barnacles. They couldn't rise to the surface of the ocean. And the passing years will someday bear out. Mori's other view that by collecting in this way over the centuries, these substances will be turned to stone by the action of the waters and will then form inexhaustible coalfields. Valuable reserves prepared by far-seeing nature for that time when man will have exhausted his minds on the continents.

In the midst of this hopelessly tangled fabric of weeds and phucous plants, I noted some delightful pink colored star-shaped alcyon coral sea anemone trailing the long tresses of their tentacles. Some green, red, and blue jellyfish and especially those big rhizostome jellyfish that Cuvier described whose bluish parasols are trimmed with violet festoons. We spent the whole day of February 22nd in the Sargasso Sea where fish that dote on marine plants and crustaceans

find plenty to eat. The next day the ocean resumed its usual appearance. From this moment on for 19 days from February 23rd to March 12th, the Nautilus stayed in the middle of the Atlantic hustling us along at a constant speed of 100 leagues every 24 hours. It was obvious that Captain Nemo wanted to carry out his underwater program and I had no doubt that he intended, after doubling Cape Horn, to return to the Pacific South Seas. So Ned Land had good reason to worry.

In these wide seas empty of islands it was no longer feasible to jump ship nor do we have any way to counter Captain Nemo's whims. We had no choice but to acquiesce but if we couldn't attain our end through force or cunning I'd like to think that we might achieve it through persuasion. Once this voyage was over might not Captain Nemo consent to set us free in return for our promise never to reveal his existence? Our word of honor which we sincerely would have kept.

However this delicate question would have to be negotiated with the captain. But how would he receive our demands for freedom? At the very outset and in no uncertain terms hadn't he declared that the secret of his life required that we be permanently imprisoned on board the Nautilus? Wouldn't he see my four-month silence as a tacit acceptance of this situation? Would my returning to this subject arouse suspicions that could jeopardize our escape plans

if we had promising circumstances for trying again later on? We weighed all these considerations turned them over in my mind submitted them to Kansai but he was as baffled as I was. In short although I'm not easily discouraged I realized that my chances of ever seeing my fellow men again were shrinking by the day especially at a time when Captain Nemo was recklessly racing toward the South Atlantic. During those 19 days just mentioned no unique incidents distinguished our

voyage. I saw little of the captain he was at work in the library I often found books he had left open especially books on natural history. He had thumbed through my work on the great ocean depths and the margins were covered with his notes which sometimes contradicted my theories and formulations but the captain remained content with this method of refining my work and he rarely discussed it with me. Sometimes I heard melancholy sounds reverberating from the organ which he played

very expressively but only at night in the midst of the most secretive darkness while the nautilus slumbered in the wilderness of the ocean. During this part of our voyage we navigated on the surface of the waves for entire days. The sea was nearly deserted a few sailing ships laden for the East Indies were heading toward the Cape of Good Hope. One day we were chased by the long boats of a whaling vessel which undoubtedly viewed us as some enormous baleen whale of great value

but Captain Nemo didn't want these gallant gentlemen wasting their time and energy so he ended the hunt by diving beneath the waters. This incident seemed to fascinate Ned Land intensely. I'm sure the Canadian was sorry that these fishermen couldn't harpoon our sheet iron, satassian, and mortally wounded. During this period the fish Konsei and I observed differed little from those we had already studied in other latitudes. Chief among them were specimens of that dreadful cartilaginous genus

that's divided into three subgenera numbering at least 32 species. Striped sharks five meters long, the head squat and wider than the body, the caudal fin curved, the back with seven big black parallel lines running lengthwise, then perillon sharks ash gray pierced with seven gill openings furnished with a single dorsal fin placed almost exactly in the middle of the body. Some big dogfish also passed by, a voracious species of shark if there ever was one.

With some justice fishermen's yarns aren't to be trusted but here's what a few of them relate. Inside the corpse of one of these animals there were found a buffalo head and a whole calf in another two tuna and a sailor in uniform in yet another a soldier with his saber in another finally a horse with its rider. In candor none of these sounds like divinely inspired truth but the fact remains that not a single dogfish let itself get caught in the Nautilus's nets

so I can't vouch for their veracity. Schools of elegant playful dolphin swam alongside for entire days. They went in groups of five or six hunting in packs like wolves over the countryside. Moreover they're just as voracious as dogfish if I can believe a certain Copenhagen professor who says that from one dolphin's stomach he removed 13 porpoises and 15 seals. True it was a killer whale belonging to the biggest known species whose length sometimes exceeds 24 feet. The family

Delphinia numbers 10 genera and the dolphins I saw were akin to the genus Delphinar hinchis remarkable for an extremely narrow muzzle four times as long as the cranium. Measuring three meters their bodies were black on top underneath a pinkish white strewn with small very scattered spots. From these seas I'll also mention some unusual specimens of croakers fish from the order Acanthopyrrhea family cyanidia. Some authors more artistic than scientific claim that these fish are

melodious singers that their voices in unison put on concerts unmatched by human choristers. I don't say nay but to my regret these croakers didn't serenade us as we passed. Finally to conclude Canse classified a large number of flying fish. Nothing could have made a more unusual sight than the marvelous timing with which dolphins hunt these fish. Whatever the range of its flight however evasive its trajectory even up and over the nautilus the hapless flying fish

always found a dolphin to welcome it with open mouth. These were either flying goonards or kite like sea robins whose lips glowed in the dark at night scrawling fiery streaks in the air before plunging into the murky waters like so many shooting stars. Our navigating continued under these conditions until March 13th. That day the nautilus was put to work in some depth sounding experiments that fascinated me deeply. By then we had fared nearly 13,000 leagues from our starting

point in the pacific high seas. Our position fix placed us in latitude 45 degrees 37 minutes south and longitude 37 degrees 53 minutes west. These were the same waterways where Captain Denham aboard the Herald paid out 14,000 meters of sounding line without finding bottom. It was here too that Lieutenant Parker above the American frigate Congress was unable to reach the underwater soil at 15,149 meters. Captain Nemo decided to take his nautilus down to the lowest depths

in order to double check these different soundings. I got ready to record the results of this experiment. The panels in the lounge opened and maneuvers began for reaching those strata so prodigiously far removed. It was apparently considered out of the question to dive by filling the ballast tanks. Perhaps they wouldn't sufficiently increase the nautilus's specific gravity. Moreover in order to come back up it would be necessary to expel the excess water

and our pumps might not have been strong enough to overcome the outside pressure. Captain Nemo decided to make for the ocean floor by submerging on an appropriately gradual diagonal with the help of his side fins which were set at a 45 degree angle to the nautilus's water line. Then the propeller was brought to its maximum speed and its four blades churned the waves with indescribable violence. Under this powerful thrust the nautilus's hull quivered like a

resonating chord and the ship sank steadily under the waters. Stationed in the lounge the captain and I watched the needle swerving swiftly over the pressure gauge. Soon we had gone below the livable zone where most fish reside. Some of these animals can thrive only at the surface of seas or rivers but a minority can dwell at fairly great depths. Among the latter I observed a species of dogfish called the cow shark that's equipped with six respiratory slits. This telescope fish

with its enormous eyes the armored gurnard with gray thoracic fins plus black pectoral fins and a breastplate protected by pale red slabs of bone. Then finally the grenadier living at a depth of 1,200 meters by that point tolerating a pressure of 120 atmospheres. I asked Captain Nemo if he had observed any fish at more considerable depths. Fish? Rarely he answered me but given the current state of marine science who are we to presume?

What do we really know of these depths? Just this captain in going toward the ocean's lower strata we know that vegetable life disappears more quickly than animal life. We know that moving creatures can still be encountered where water plants no longer grow. We know that oysters and pilgrim scallops live in 2,000 meters of water and that Admiral McClintock England's hero of the polar seas pulled in a live sea star from a depth of 2,500 meters. We know that the crew of the Royal

Navy's bulldog fished up a starfish from 2,620 fathoms hence from a depth of more than one vertical league. Would you still say Captain Nemo that we really know nothing? No professor the captain replied. I wouldn't be so discourteous yet I'll ask you to explain how these creatures can live at such depths. I explained it on two grounds I replied. In the first place because vertical currents which are caused by differences in the water's salinity and

density can produce enough motion to sustain the rudimentary lifestyles of sea lilies and starfish. True the captain put in. In the second place because oxygen is the basis of life and we know that the amount of oxygen dissolved in salt water increases rather than decreases with depth that the pressure in these lower strata helps to concentrate their oxygen content. Oh we know that do we? Captain Nemo replied in a tone of mild surprise. Well professor

we have a good reason to know it because it's the truth. I might add in fact that the air bladders of fish contain more nitrogen than oxygen when these animals are caught at the surface of the water and conversely more oxygen than nitrogen when they're pulled up from the lower depths. Which bears out your formulation but let's continue our observations. My eyes flew back to the pressure gauge. The instrument indicated a depth of 6 000 meters.

Our submergence had been going on for an hour. The nautilus slid downward on its slanting fins still sinking. These deserted waters were wonderfully clear with the transparency impossible to convey. An hour later we were at 13 000 meters about three and a quarter vertical leagues and the ocean floor was nowhere in sight. However at 14 000 meters I saw blackish peaks rising in the midst of the waters but these summits could have belonged to mountains as high or even higher than

the Himalayas or Mount Blanc and the extent of these depths remained incalculable. Despite the powerful pressures it was undergoing the nautilus sank still deeper. I could feel its sheet iron plates trembling down to their riveted joints. Metal bars arced. Bullheads groaned. The lounge windows seemed to be warping inward under the water's pressure and this whole sturdy mechanism would surely have given way if as the captain had said it weren't capable of resisting

like a solid block. While grazing these rocky slopes lost under the waters I still spotted some seashells. Tube worms. Lively annelid worms from the genus Spiroibus and certain starfish specimens but soon these last representatives of animal life vanished and three vertical leagues down the nautilus passed below the limits of underwater existence just as an air balloon rises above the breathable zones in the sky. We reached a depth of 16,000 meters for vertical leagues and by then

the nautilus's plating was tolerating a pressure of 1,600 atmospheres in other words 1,600 kilograms per each square meter centimeter on its surface. What an experience I exclaimed. Traveling these deep regions where no man has ever ventured before. Look captain look at these magnificent rocks these uninhabited caves these last global haunts where life is no longer possible. What unheard of of scenery and why are we reduced to preserving it only as a memory?

Would you like Captain Nemo asked me to bring back more than just a memory? What do you mean? I mean that nothing could be easier than taking a photograph of this underwater region. Before I had time to express the surprise this new proposition caused me a camera was carried into the lounge at Captain Nemo's request. The liquid setting electronically lit unfolded with perfect clarity through the wide open panels. No shadows no blurs thanks to our artificial light not even

sunshine could have been better for our purposes. With the thrust of its propeller curved by the slant of its fins the nautilus stood still. The camera was aimed at the scenery on the ocean floor and in a few seconds we had a perfect negative. I attach a print of the positive. In it you can view these primordial rocks that have never seen the light of day. This nether granite that forms the powerful foundation of our globe. The deep caves cut into the stony mass. The outlines of

incomparable distinctness whose far edges stand out in black as if from the brush of certain Flemish painters. In the distance is a mountainous horizon a wondrously undulating line that makes up the background of this landscape. The general effect of these smooth rocks is indescribable. Black polished without moss or other blemish carved into strange shapes sitting firmly on a carpet of sand that sparkled beneath our streams of electric light. Meanwhile his photographic

operations over Captain Nemo told me. Let's go back up professor. Let's go back up I replied. Hold on tight. Before I had time to realize why the captain made this recommendation I was hurled to the carpet. Its fins set vertically its propeller thrown in gear at the captain's signal. The nautilus rose with lightning speed shooting upward like an air balloon into the sky. Vibrating resently it knifed through the watery mass. Not a single detail was visible. In four

minutes it had cleared the four vertical leagues separating it from the surface of the ocean and after emerging like a flying fish it fell back into the sea making the waves leap to prodigious heights. End of chapter 11 recording by Teresa Sheridan.