Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas: An Underwater Tour of the World by Verne (beach books .txt) đ
- Author: Verne
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In 1791, justly concerned about the fate of these two sloops of war, the French government fitted out two large cargo boats, the Search and the Hope, which left Brest on September 28 under orders from Rear Admiral Bruni dâEntrecasteaux. Two months later, testimony from a certain Commander Bowen, aboard the Albemarle, alleged that rubble from shipwrecked vessels had been seen on the coast of New Georgia. But dâEntrecasteaux was unaware of this newsâwhich seemed a bit dubious anyhowâand headed toward the Admiralty Islands, which had been named in a report by one Captain Hunter as the site of the Count de La PĂ©rouseâs shipwreck.
They looked in vain. The Hope and the Search passed right by Vanikoro without stopping there; and overall, this voyage was plagued by misfortune, ultimately costing the lives of Rear Admiral dâEntrecasteaux, two of his subordinate officers, and several seamen from his crew.
It was an old hand at the Pacific, the English adventurer Captain Peter Dillon, who was the first to pick up the trail left by castaways from the wrecked vessels. On May 15, 1824, his ship, the St. Patrick, passed by Tikopia Island, one of the New Hebrides. There a native boatman pulled alongside in a dugout canoe and sold Dillon a silver sword hilt bearing the imprint of characters engraved with a cutting tool known as a burin. Furthermore, this native boatman claimed that during a stay in Vanikoro six years earlier, he had seen two Europeans belonging to ships that had run aground on the islandâs reefs many years before.
Dillon guessed that the ships at issue were those under the Count de La PĂ©rouse, ships whose disappearance had shaken the entire world. He tried to reach Vanikoro, where, according to the native boatman, a good deal of rubble from the shipwreck could still be found, but winds and currents prevented his doing so.
Dillon returned to Calcutta. There he was able to interest the Asiatic Society and the East India Company in his discovery. A ship named after the Search was placed at his disposal, and he departed on January 23, 1827, accompanied by a French deputy.
This new Search, after putting in at several stops over the Pacific, dropped anchor before Vanikoro on July 7, 1827, in the same harbor of Vana where the Nautilus was currently floating.
There Dillon collected many relics of the shipwreck: iron utensils, anchors, eyelets from pulleys, swivel guns, an eighteen-pound shell, the remains of some astronomical instruments, a piece of sternrail, and a bronze bell bearing the inscription âMade by Bazin,â the foundry mark at Brest Arsenal around 1785. There could no longer be any doubt.
Finishing his investigations, Dillon stayed at the site of the casualty until the month of October. Then he left Vanikoro, headed toward New Zealand, dropped anchor at Calcutta on April 7, 1828, and returned to France, where he received a very cordial welcome from King Charles X.
But just then the renowned French explorer Captain Dumont dâUrville, unaware of Dillonâs activities, had already set sail to search elsewhere for the site of the shipwreck. In essence, a whaling vessel had reported that some medals and a Cross of St. Louis had been found in the hands of savages in the Louisiade Islands and New Caledonia.
So Captain Dumont dâUrville had put to sea in command of a vessel named after the Astrolabe, and just two months after Dillon had left Vanikoro, Dumont dâUrville dropped anchor before Hobart. There he heard about Dillonâs findings, and he further learned that a certain James Hobbs, chief officer on the Union out of Calcutta, had put to shore on an island located in latitude 8 degrees 18â south and longitude 156 degrees 30â east, and had noted the natives of those waterways making use of iron bars and red fabrics.
Pretty perplexed, Dumont dâUrville didnât know if he should give credence to these reports, which had been carried in some of the less reliable newspapers; nevertheless, he decided to start on Dillonâs trail.
On February 10, 1828, the new Astrolabe hove before Tikopia Island, took on a guide and interpreter in the person of a deserter who had settled there, plied a course toward Vanikoro, raised it on February 12, sailed along its reefs until the 14th, and only on the 20th dropped anchor inside its barrier in the harbor of Vana.
On the 23rd, several officers circled the island and brought back some rubble of little importance. The natives, adopting a system of denial and evasion, refused to guide them to the site of the casualty. This rather shady conduct aroused the suspicion that the natives had mistreated the castaways; and in truth, the natives seemed afraid that Dumont dâUrville had come to avenge the Count de La PĂ©rouse and his unfortunate companions.
But on the 26th, appeased with gifts and seeing that they didnât need to fear any reprisals, the natives led the chief officer, Mr. Jacquinot, to the site of the shipwreck.
At this location, in three or four fathoms of water between the Paeu and Vana reefs, there lay some anchors, cannons, and ingots of iron and lead, all caked with limestone concretions. A launch and whaleboat from the new Astrolabe were steered to this locality, and after going to exhausting lengths, their crews managed to dredge up an anchor weighing 1,800 pounds, a cast-iron eight-pounder cannon, a lead ingot, and two copper swivel guns.
Questioning the natives, Captain Dumont dâUrville also learned that after La PĂ©rouseâs two ships had miscarried on the islandâs reefs, the count had built a smaller craft, only to go off and miscarry a second time. Where? Nobody knew.
The commander of the new Astrolabe then had a monument erected under a tuft of mangrove, in memory of the famous navigator and his companions. It was a simple quadrangular pyramid, set on a coral base, with no ironwork to tempt the nativesâ avarice.
Then Dumont dâUrville tried to depart; but his crews were run down from the fevers raging on these unsanitary shores, and quite ill himself, he was unable to weigh anchor until March 17.
Meanwhile, fearing that Dumont dâUrville wasnât abreast of Dillonâs activities, the French government sent a sloop of war to Vanikoro, the Bayonnaise under Commander Legoarant de Tromelin, who had been stationed on the American west coast. Dropping anchor before Vanikoro a few months after the new Astrolabeâs departure, the Bayonnaise didnât find any additional evidence but verified that the savages hadnât disturbed the memorial honoring the Count de La PĂ©rouse.
This is the substance of the account I gave Captain Nemo.
âSo,â he said to me, âthe castaways built a third ship on Vanikoro Island, and to this day, nobody knows where it went and perished?â
âNobody knows.â
Captain Nemo didnât reply but signaled me to follow him to the main lounge. The Nautilus sank a few meters beneath the waves, and the panels opened.
I rushed to the window and saw crusts of coral: fungus coral, siphonula coral, alcyon coral, sea anemone from the genus Caryophylia, plus myriads of charming fish including greenfish, damselfish, sweepers, snappers, and squirrelfish; underneath this coral covering I detected some rubble the old dredges hadnât been able to tear freeâiron stirrups, anchors, cannons, shells, tackle from a capstan, a stempost, all objects hailing from the wrecked ships and now carpeted in moving flowers.
And as I stared at this desolate wreckage, Captain Nemo told me in a solemn voice:
âCommander La PĂ©rouse set out on December 7, 1785, with his ships, the Compass and the Astrolabe. He dropped anchor first at Botany Bay, visited the Tonga Islands and New Caledonia, headed toward the Santa Cruz Islands, and put in at Nomuka, one of the islands in the Haâapai group. Then his ships arrived at the unknown reefs of Vanikoro. Traveling in the lead, the Compass ran afoul of breakers on the southerly coast. The Astrolabe went to its rescue and also ran aground. The first ship was destroyed almost immediately. The second, stranded to leeward, held up for some days. The natives gave the castaways a fair enough welcome. The latter took up residence on the island and built a smaller craft with rubble from the two large ones. A few seamen stayed voluntarily in Vanikoro. The others, weak and ailing, set sail with the Count de La PĂ©rouse. They headed to the Solomon Islands, and they perished with all hands on the westerly coast of the chief island in that group, between Cape Deception and Cape Satisfaction!â
âAnd how do you know all this?â I exclaimed.
âHereâs what I found at the very site of that final shipwreck!â
Captain Nemo showed me a tin box, stamped with the coat of arms of France and all corroded by salt water. He opened it and I saw a bundle of papers, yellowed but still legible.
They were the actual military orders given by Franceâs Minister of the Navy to Commander La PĂ©rouse, with notes along the margin in the handwriting of King Louis XVI!
âAh, what a splendid death for a seaman!â Captain Nemo then said. âA coral grave is a tranquil grave, and may Heaven grant that my companions and I rest in no other!â
CHAPTER 20The Torres Strait
DURING THE NIGHT of December 27-28, the Nautilus left the waterways of Vanikoro behind with extraordinary speed. Its heading was southwesterly, and in three days it had cleared the 750 leagues that separated La PĂ©rouseâs islands from the southeastern tip of Papua.
On January 1, 1868, bright and early, Conseil joined me on the platform.
âWill master,â the gallant lad said to me, âallow me to wish him a happy new year?â
âGood heavens, Conseil, itâs just like old times in my office at the Botanical Gardens in Paris! I accept your kind wishes and I thank you for them. Only, Iâd like to know what you mean by a âhappy yearâ under the circumstances in which weâre placed. Is it a year that will bring our imprisonment to an end, or a year that will see this strange voyage continue?â
âYe gods,â Conseil replied, âI hardly know what to tell master. Weâre certainly seeing some unusual things, and for two months weâve had no time for boredom. The latest wonder is always the most astonishing, and if this progression keeps up, I canât imagine what its climax will be. In my opinion, weâll never again have such an opportunity.â
âNever, Conseil.â
âBesides, Mr. Nemo really lives up to his Latin name, since he couldnât be less in the way if he didnât exist.â
âTrue enough, Conseil.â
âTherefore, with all due respect to master, I think a âhappy yearâ would be a year that lets us see everythingââ
âEverything, Conseil? No year could be that long. But what does Ned Land think about all this?â
âNed Landâs thoughts are exactly the opposite of mine,â Conseil replied. âHe has a practical mind and a demanding stomach. Heâs tired of staring at fish and eating them day in and day out. This shortage of wine, bread, and meat isnât suitable for an upstanding Anglo-Saxon, a man accustomed to beefsteak and unfazed by regular doses of brandy or gin!â
âFor my part, Conseil, that doesnât bother me in the least, and Iâve adjusted very nicely to the diet on board.â
âSo have I,â Conseil replied. âAccordingly, I think as much about staying as Mr. Land about making his escape. Thus, if this new year isnât a happy one for me, it will be for him, and vice versa. No matter what happens, one of us will be pleased. So, in conclusion, I wish master to have whatever his heart desires.â
âThank you, Conseil. Only I must ask you to postpone the question of new yearâs gifts, and temporarily accept a hearty handshake in their place. Thatâs all I have on me.â
âMaster has never been more generous,â Conseil replied.
And with that, the gallant lad went away.
By January 2 we had fared 11,340 miles, hence
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