![]() The first cable malfunctioned shortly after its completion in 1858, while the second snapped in the summer of 1865. It had taken three attempts before Field and his backers established reliable transatlantic communications. Maury responded that recent deep-sea soundings revealed a shallow plain between Newfoundland and Ireland which could provide an ideal route for that project.ĭuring an underwater crossing of the Atlantic in May 1868, Nemo changes heading to follow the “telegraph plateau,” allowing his passengers to witness this ambitious engineering project firsthand. In 1854, the American entrepreneur Cyrus Field contacted Maury about the feasibility of constructing a transatlantic telegraph cable. Nemo was not the only technological innovator who relied on Maury’s oceanographic data. William Howard Russell, The Atlantic Telegraph, London, 1865 Matthew Fontaine Maury The Physical Geography of the Seas New York, 1855 ![]() Undaunted, de Lesseps spent the next four years securing funding for the project and another decade after that supervising the canal’s construction. ![]() Intended to boost British support for a canal linking the Red and Mediterranean Seas, it instead inspired complaints about its high cost and technical difficulty. “Such a man brings more honor to a nation than the greatest generals!” the captain observes.Īronnax suspects that Nemo views de Lesseps as another misunderstood visionary, and this 1855 pamphlet certainly reinforces that characterization. After Aronnax calls attention to the imminent completion of the Suez Canal, Nemo surprises him by echoing his praise for Ferdinand de Lesseps, the French diplomat overseeing the project. He makes one noteworthy exception in February 1868, when the Nautilus enters the Red Sea. Nemo’s disdain for civilization leaves him reluctant to compliment anyone who chooses to live on land. Nemo, undoubtedly familiar with Dumont d’Urville’s account, successfully locates the coral-encrusted wreck of Lapérouse’s third ship off the coast of Guadalcanal.įerdinand de Lesseps The Isthmus of Suez Question London, 1855įerdinand de Lesseps, The Isthmus of Suez Question, 1855 The inhabitants of Vanikoro recalled that Lapérouse attempted to escape the island by building another boat, but Dumont d’Urville could not verify their claims. In 1828, another explorer, Jules-Sébastien-César Dumont d’Urville, confirmed that Lapérouse’s two ships ran aground near the island of Vanikoro and built the memorial seen here. ![]() Lapérouse was the leader of a scientific expedition that left France in 1785 and visited Easter Island, Australia, and Alaska before disappearing three years later. While traveling past the Solomon Islands, he alters the Nautilus’ course to confirm the fate of Jean François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse. Unsurprisingly, Nemo is fascinated with the history of naval exploration. Jules-Sébastien-César Dumont d’Urville, Voyage de la corvette l'Astrolabe, 1830-1834 On loan from LaBudde Special Collections, Miller Nichols Library, UMKC Jules Verne Vingt mille lieues sous les mers Paris, c. By including references to real-world scientists and engineers, Verne provided a factual basis for his otherwise fantastic narratives and implied that industry might one day match-or even exceed-Captain Nemo’s technological achievements. He also accumulated an extensive personal collection of books, which he brought onboard the Nautilus. The captain recalls that before forsaking life on land, he studied engineering in Europe and America, which enabled him to build his submarine. The original novel did, however, provide a few details about Nemo’s education. Only in a sequel, L'Île mystérieuse ( The Mysterious Island, 1874-75), would readers discover that the captain was actually Prince Dakkar, an Indian nobleman who took to sea following his family’s death in the 1857 revolt against the British. ![]() Verne initially revealed almost nothing about Nemo’s origins. This exhibition features some of the volumes in Nemo’s library, along with works related to landmarks that he encounters during his travels. The book introduced Captain Nemo, who abandons the surface world to explore the ocean depths in his remarkable submarine, the Nautilus. In March 1869, Jules Verne published the first installment of Vingt mille lieues sous les mers ( Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea). ![]()
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