In the year 1866, something remarkable happened at sea, a mysterious and baffling phenomenon. Although sailors were especially excited about it, the general public—even those who lived far inland—heard the rumors too. For some time vessels had been encountering "an enormous thing" at sea. This thing was a long, spindle-shaped object. People said it occasionally glowed, and it was larger and more rapid in its movements than any whale.
On July 20 the steamship Governor Higginson met the thing five miles off the east coast of Australia. At first Captain Baker thought he was in the presence of an unknown sandbank. He was about to determine its exact position in the ocean when two columns of water shot a hundred and fifty feet into the air with a loud hissing noise.
Three days later another ship spotted the thing—but this ship was fifteen hundred miles away in the Pacific!
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Fifteen days later and two thousand miles away, two more ships encountered the mysterious object.
Everyone began talking about the thing. They sang about it in the cafes, ridiculed it in the newspapers, and showcased it on the stage. All kinds of stories circulated about the object, causing editors of scientific journals to quarrel with believers in the supernatural. The subject was debated for six months until a journal poked such fun at the topic that stories about the strange thing finally died.
The topic seemed buried forever. But during the first months of 1867, new facts came to light. Suddenly the thing at sea was no longer a scientific problem to be solved but a real danger to be avoided.
On March 5, 1867, a Canadian passenger ship, the Moravian, struck a rock that wasn't marked on any map for that part of the Atlantic Ocean.
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Had it not been for the ship's superior strength, the Moravian would have gone down with all 237 passengers onboard.
The accident happened just as day was breaking. The officers rushed to the rear of the ship and carefully studied the sea. But they saw nothing except the surface of the water violently swirling about 1800 feet away. The exact location of the place was noted, and the Moravian continued on its route without apparent damage. Had it struck a rock or an enormous shipwreck? The ship’s officers had no idea. But when the ship’s bottom was examined while undergoing repairs, workers found that part of the keel was broken.
This incident might have been forgotten if the same thing hadn’t happened a little more than a month later. Only in this case, the event caused a huge uproar because of the excellent reputation of the shipping line involved—the famous Cunard line of England.
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In 26 years Cunard ships had successfully made two thousand Atlantic crossings without a voyage canceled, a delay recorded, or a man, a ship, or even a letter lost.
On April 13, 1867, with a smooth sea and a moderate breeze, the Cunard’s Scotia was crossing the Atlantic, headed for England. At a little after four o’clock in the afternoon, while the passengers were having tea, a slight shock was felt. The Scotia had not struck anything; instead it had been struck.
The shock had been so slight that no one was alarmed at first. But then a member of the crew started shouting, "We're sinking! We're sinking!"
The passengers were very afraid, so Captain Anderson quickly reassured them that the ship was not in danger of sinking. The Scotia, divided into seven compartments by strong partitions, could withstand any leak.
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Captain Anderson soon found that the sea was rapidly pouring into the fifth compartment. He ordered the engines to be stopped at once, and one of the men dove into the water to determine the damage. He found a large hole, two yards in diameter.
Such a leak could not be stopped, so the Scotia was forced to continue on its way. The ship was then about three hundred miles from Ireland, and after three days’ delay, it finally reached a British port. When the Scotia was examined more carefully, the hole was found to be in the shape of a triangle. Something had punched its way through the ship’s thick iron plates and then pulled out.
From this moment on, the monster was blamed for any accident at sea.
During the time that these developments were taking place, I was returning from a scientific expedition to explore the Nebraska Territory in the United States.
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The French government had sent me, Pierre Aronnax, on the expedition because I am an assistant professor at the Museum of Natural History in Paris. After six months in Nebraska, I had arrived in New York City with a precious collection of minerals, plants, and animals. I was not due to return to France for a while, so I was busy organizing my specimens when the Scotia incident occurred.
I was well aware of this unfortunate event and the debate over its cause. How could I not have been? I had read and reread every American and European newspaper without being able to form a conclusion. Something was out there; that much was certain.
While I was in New York, the issue reached a boiling point. People had discussed a theory about a drifting island or reef, but that idea had been completely eliminated.
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How could an island or reef move at such fantastic speed unless it had an engine in its belly?
For the same reason, the idea of a massive, floating shipwreck had also been abandoned. There were only two possible explanations for the thing, and each explanation had its supporters. On one side were those who were sure it was a monster of colossal strength. On the other side were those who believed the thing was some type of underwater boat with tremendous engine power.
But this second idea seemed nearly impossible. How could a private individual have a vessel like this at his command? Where had it been built, and how had its construction been kept secret?
It was possible, however, that a nation might construct a submarine to use as a weapon of war.
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But rival countries are always watching each other. It was unlikely that one nation could have built a submarine without another nation knowing about it. Inquiries were made in England, France, Russia, Prussia, Spain, Italy, America, and even in Turkey. When the inquiries produced no facts, the hypothesis of a submarine was rejected.
And so the idea of a monster surfaced again. Upon my arrival in New York, several people did me the honor of consulting me on the subject. In France I had published a two-volume work, Mysteries of the Great Underwater World. Well-regarded in academic circles, my book gave me a reputation as an expert in this obscure branch of natural history. By the time the New York Herald asked me to write an article on the subject, I had my own ideas about this monster.