Chapter 44
CHAPTER XLIV. in latitude forty-seven degrees twenty-four minutes and longitude seventeen degrees twenty-eight minutes in the aftermath of this storm we were thrown back to the east away went any hope of escaping to the landing places of new york or the st lawrence in despair poor ned went into seclusion like captain nemo conceal and i no longer left each other as i said the nautilus veered to the east to be more accurate i should have said to the north-east sometimes on the surface of the waves sometimes beneath them the ship wandered for days amid these mists so feared by navigators these are caused chiefly by melting ice which keeps the air extremely damp how many ships have perished in these waterways as they tried to get directions from the hazy lights on the coast how many casualties have been caused by these opaque mists how many collisions have occurred with these reefs where the breaking surf is covered by the noise of the wind
how many vessels have rammed each other despite their running lights despite the warnings given by their boatswain's pipes and alarm bells so the floor of this sea had the appearance of a battle-field where every ship defeated by the ocean still lay some already old and encrusted others newer and reflecting our beacon light on the iron-work and copper under sides among these vessels how many went down with all hands with their crews and hosts of immigrants at these trouble spots so prominent in the statistics cape race st paul island the strait of belle isle the st lawrence estuary and in only a few years how many victims have been furnished to the obituary notices by the royal mail inman and montreal lines by vessels named the solway the isis the peramata the hungarian the canadian the anglo-saxon the humboldt and the united states all run aground by the arctic and the lyonias sunk in collisions by the president the pacific and the city of glasgow
lost for reasons unknown in the midst of their gloomy rubble the nautilus navigated as if passing the dead in review by may fifteenth we were off the southern tip of the grand banks of newfoundland these banks are the result of marine sedimentation and extensive accumulation of organic waste brought either from the equator by the gulf stream's current or from the north pole by the counter-current of cold water that skirts the american coast here too erratically drifting chunks collect from the ice break up here a huge bone-yard forms from fish mollusks and zoophytes dying over it by the billions the sea is of no great depth at the grand banks a few hundred fathoms at best but to the south there is a deep suddenly occurring depression a three thousand meter pit here the gulf stream widens its waters come to full bloom it loses its speed and temperature but it turns into a sea among the fish that the nautilus startled on its way i'll mention a one-metre lump fish blackish on top with orange on the belly and rare among its brethren in that it practises monogamy
a good-sized eel pout a type of emerald moray whose flavour is excellent wolf fish with big eyes and a head somewhat resembling canines viviparous blennies whose eggs hatch inside their bodies like those of snakes bloated gobio or black gudgeon measuring two decimetres grenadiers with long tails and gleaming with a silvery glow speedy fish venturing far from their high arctic seas our nets also hauled in a bow daring vigorous and muscular fish armed with prickles on its head and stings on its fins a real scorpion measuring two to three metres the ruthless enemy of cod blennies and salmon it was the bullhead of the northerly seas a fish with red fins and a brown body covered with nodules the nautilus's fishermen had some trouble getting a grip on this animal which thanks to the formation of its gill covers can protect its respiratory organs from any parching contact with the air and can live out of water for a good while and i'll mention for the record some little banded blennies that follow ships into the northernmost seas
fish sharp-snouted carp exclusive to the north atlantic scorpion fish and lastly the gadoid family chiefly the cod species which i detected in their waters of choice over these inexhaustible grand banks because newfoundland is simply an under-water peak you could call these cod mountain fish while the nautilus was clearing a path through their tight ranks conceal couldn't refrain from making this comment merci look at this cod he said why i thought cod were flat like dab or sol innocent boy i exclaimed can't offer flat only at the grocery store when they're cut open and spread out on display but in the water they're like mullet spindle-shaped and perfectly built for speed i can easily believe master conceal replied but what crowds of them what swarms bah my friend there'd be many more without their enemies scorpion fish and human beings do you know how many eggs have been counted in a single female i'll go all out kunseil replied five hundred thousand eleven million my friend eleven million i refuse to accept that until i count them myself
so count them concealed but it would be less work to believe me besides frenchmen englishmen american danes and norwegians catch these cods by the thousands they are eaten in prodigious quantities and without the astonishing fertility of these fish the seas would soon be depopulated of them accordingly in england and america alone five thousand ships manned by seventy-five thousand seamen go after cod each ship brings back an average catch of four thousand four hundred fish making twenty-two million off the coast of norway the total is the same fine conceal replied i'll take masya's word for it i won't count them count what those eleven million eggs but i'll make one comment what's that if all their eggs hatched just four codfish could feed england america and norway as we skimmed the depths of the great banks i could see perfectly those long fishing lines each armed with two hundred hooks that every boat dangled by the dozens the lower end of each line dragged the bottom by means of a small grappling-iron and at the surface it was secured to the buoy rope of a cork float the nautilus had to manoeuvre shrewdly in the midst of this under-water spider-web
but the ship didn't stay long in these heavily travelled waterways it went up to about latitude forty two degrees this brought it abreast of st john's in newfoundland and hart's content where the atlantic cable reaches its end point instead of continuing north the nautilus took an easterly heading as if to go along this plateau on which the telegraph cable rests where multiple soundings have given the contours of the terrain with the utmost accuracy it was on may seventeenth about five hundred miles from hart's content and two thousand eight hundred metres down that i spotted this cable lying on the sea-floor conceal whom i hadn't alerted mistook it at first for a gigantic sea-snake and was gearing up to classify it in his best manner but i enlightened the fine lad and let him down gently by giving him various details on the laying of this cable The first cable was put down during the years 1857 to 1858, but after transmitting about 400 telegrams, it went dead.
In 1863, engineers built a new cable that measured 3,400 kilometres, weighing 4,500 metric tonnes, and was shipped aboard the Great Eastern. This attempt also failed. Now then, on May 25th, while submerged to a depth of 3,836 metres, the Nortonists lay in precisely the locality where the second cable suffered the rupture that ruined the undertaking.
It happened 638 miles from the coast of Ireland. At around 2 o'clock in the afternoon, all contact with Europe broke off. The electricians on board decided to cut the cable before fishing it up, and by 11 o'clock that evening they had retrieved the damaged part they repaired the joint and its splice then the cable was resubmerged but a few days later it snapped again and couldn't be recovered from the ocean depths these americans refused to give up the daring cyrus field who had risked his whole fortune to promote the sun's taking called for a new bond issue it sold out immediately
another cable was put down under better conditions its sheaves of conducting wire were insulated with a gutter-percher covering which was protected by a padding of textile material enclosed in a metal sheath the great eastern put back to sea on july thirteenth eighteen sixty six the operation proceeded apace yet there was one hitch as they gradually unrolled this third cable the electricians observed on several occasions that someone had recently driven nails into it trying to damage its core captain anderson hit officers and the engineers put their heads together then posted a warning that if the culprit were detected he would be thrown overboard without a trial after that these villainous attempts were not repeated by june twenty third the great eastern was lying no farther than eight hundred kilometres from newfoundland when it received telegraph news from ireland of an armistice signed between prussia and austria after the battle of serdova through the mists on the twenty seventh it sighted the port of heart's content the undertaking had ended happily and in its first despatch young america addressed old europe with these wise words so rarely understood glory to god in the highest and peace on earth to men of good will
i didn't expect to find this electric cable in mint condition as it looked on leaving its place of manufacture the long snake was covered with sea-shell rubble and bristling with foraminifera a crust of caked gravel protected it from any mollusks that might bore into it it rested serenely sheltered from the sea's motions until a pressure favourable to the transmission of that electric spark that goes from america to europe in thirty-two one hundredths of a second this cable will no doubt last indefinitely because as observers note its gutter-perter casing is improved by a stay in salt water besides on this well-chosen plateau the cable never lies at depths that could cause a break the nautilus followed it to its lowest reaches located four thousand four hundred and thirty-one metres down and even there it rested without any stress or strain then we returned to the locality where the eighteen sixty three accident had taken place there the ocean floor formed a valley a hundred and twenty kilometres wide into which you could fit mount blanc without its summit poking above the surface of the waves this valley is closed off to the east by a sheer wall two thousand metres high
we arrived there on may twenty eighth and the nautilus lay no farther than a hundred and fifty kilometres from ireland would captain nemo head up north and beat us on the british isles no much to my surprise he went back down south and returned to european seas as we swung around the emerald isle i spotted clear for an instant plus the lighthouse in farsnet rock that guides all those thousands of ships setting out from glasgow or liverpool an important question then popped into my head would the nautilus dare to tackle the english channel ned land who promptly reappeared after we hugged shore never stopped questioning me what could i answer him captain nemo remained invisible after giving the canadian a glimpse of american shores was he about to show me the coast of france but the nautilus kept gravitating southward of may thirtieth in sight of land's end it passed between the lowermost tifted of england and the syrie islands which it left behind to starboard if it was going to enter the english channel it clearly needed to head east it did not all day long on may thirty first the nautilus swept around the sea in a series of circles that had me deeply puzzled it seemed to be searching for a locality that it had some trouble finding
at noon captain nemo himself came to take our bearings he didn't address a word to me he looked gloomier than ever what was filling him with such sadness was it our proximity to these european shores was he reliving his memories of that country he had left behind if so what did he feel remorse or regret for a good while these thoughts occupied my mind and i had a hunch that fate would soon give away the captain's secrets The next day, June 1st, the Nautilus kept to the same tack. He was obviously trying to locate some precise spot in the ocean. Just as on the day before, Captain Nemo came to take the altitude of the sun.
The sea was smooth, and the skies clear. Eight miles to the east, a big steamship was visible on the horizon line. No flag was flapping from the gaff of its fore-and-aft sail, and I couldn't tell its nationality. A few minutes before the sun passed its zenith, Captain Nemo raised his sextant and took his sights with the utmost precision. The absolute calm of the waves facilitated this operation.
The Nautilus lay motionless, neither rolling nor pitching. I was on the platform just then. After determining our position, the captain pronounced only these words, It's right here! He went down the hatch.
Had he seen the vessel change course and seemingly head toward us? I am unable to say. I returned to the lounge. The hatch closed and I heard water hissing in the ballast tanks. The nautilus began to sink on a vertical line because its propeller was in check and no longer furnished any forward motion.
Some minutes later, it stopped at a depth of 833 metres and came to rest on the sea floor. The ceiling lights in the lounge then went out. the panels opened, and through the windows I saw, for a half-mile radius, the sea brightly lit by the beacon's rays. I looked to port and saw nothing but the immenseness of these tranquil waters. To starboard, a prominent bulge on the sea-bottom caught my attention. You would have thought it
was some ruin enshrouded in a crust of whitened seashells, as if under a mantle of snow. Carefully examining this mass i could identify the swollen outlines of a ship shorn of its masts which must have sunk bow first this casualty certainly dated from some far-off time to be so caked with the limestone of these waters this wreckage must have spent many a year on the ocean floor what ship was this why had the nautilus come to visit its grave was it something other than a maritime accident that had dragged this craft under the waters i wasn't sure what to think but next to me i heard captain lima's voice slowly say originally the ship was christened the marseilles it carried seventy-four cannons and was launched in seventeen sixty two on august thirteenth seventeen seventy eight commanded by la poepe vertriot it fought valiantly against the preston on july fourth seventeen seventy nine as a member of the squadron under admiral destine it assisted in the capture of the island of granada
on september fifth seventeen eighty one under the count de grasse took part in the battle of jesapique bay in seventeen ninety four the new republic of france changed the name of the ship on april sixteenth of that same year it joined the squadron at brest under rear-admiral villaray de joyeuse who was entrusted with escorting a convoy of wheat coming from america under the command of admiral van in this second year of the french revolutionary calendar on the eleventh and twelfth days of the month of pasteur the squadron fought an encounter with the english vessels sir to day is june first eighteen sixty eight or the thirteenth day in the month of pasteur seventy-four years ago to this day at this very spot in latitude forty seven degrees twenty four minutes and longitude seventeen degrees twenty eight minutes the ship sank after heroic battle its three masts gone water in its hold a third of its crew out of action it preferred to go to the bottom with its three hundred and fifty-six seamen rather than surrender
and with its flag nailed up on the after-deck it disappeared between the waves to shouts of long live the republic this is the avenger i exclaimed yes sir the avenger a splendid name captain nemo murmured crossing his arms chapter forty four
