Jule’s Verne can probably be called the father of science fictions.
This book itself proves that I am not making an
overstatement. Here is an
abstract of the story.
The story begins when a mysterious creature terrorizes the
ocean, chasing ships and even damaging cruisers. People begin to believe it to
be a Narwhal, a mythical beast the size of
20 whales. To get rid of the so called beast, a naval battleship sets
sail. On board are Professor Pierre
Aronnax I, a noted French marine biologist ,who is also the narrator of the
story; the Canadian master harpoonist Ned Land and Aronnax''''s faithful assistant Conseil.
The ship sets
sail in the Pacific Ocean, and after much
fruitless search, the monster is found. In the course of the battle with the
monster, Aronnax, Ned , and Conseil are thrown overboard. When all hope seems
lost, they are rescued by the sailors of a mysterious submarine, which turns
out to be the monster itself.
The rescued party
soon gets acquainted with the admiral of the vessel, Captain Nemo, who is as
mysterious as the sub itself.
Nemo takes the
three protagonists to a great adventure under the sea, where they explore the
mysteries hidden beneath the water, discover lost cities, and excavate hidden
treasures. Much as the professor enjoys the adventures, he fears that the
captain would never let them go, in fear that they would expose his secrets to
the world.
The professor’s
secret escape attempts are foiled every time due to strange twists of fate. He
is stuck between two choices -being able to conduct his researches undersea,
and living as a free man.
His choice
becomes clear when he sees Nemo’s darker ,vengeful side as he mercilessly
destroys a battleship. Finally , Aronnax escapes with his companions when the
sub gets caught in a maelstorm.
The truly
astonishing aspects of this story is that
it talks about an electrically powered submarine about a century before
the submarine was actually invented. Through his oratory he enables the reader
to accompany the characters exploring
the real corals of
the Red Sea,
the wrecks of the battle of Vigo Bay, the Antarctic
ice shelves, and the fictional submerged Atlantis, wearing diving
suits to go on undersea expeditions away from the ship, and shark hunting
with specially designed guns.
Any reader is
bound to enjoy the book!
.