20,000 Leagues Under the Sea - It Was A Visionary Book
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is a book written by Jules Verne (France) during the later part of the 19th century. It starts with a quest by some seamen to destroy a huge narwhal (which turned out to be a submarine), and the expedition got beaten pretty badly. Three of the sea men fall to the sea and are brought aboard said submarine, Nautilus, as prisoners.
Nautilus Source
A drawing of the Nautilus. Source
The owner and boss of the Nautilus is the mysterious Captain Nemo. He decided to create the submarine, with the help of the most brilliant people he could fin, to be able to live under the seas, where no king could hope to challenge him. The submarine itself is propelled by electric engines, which was probably a remarkable science fiction back then (considering that the book was written in 1867). Other gadgets included improved Ruhmkorff lamps. These were in fact invented by German inventor Heinrich Daniel Ruhmkorff in the 1850s, and it was essentially a battery powered neon tube (albeit very primitive and barely functional for a few minutes). Other gadgets included oxygen tanks to walk under the sea, outside of the submarine. It is really remarkable that in the second half of the 19th century, Jules Verne already envisioned technology that today is trivial and common place.
Captain Nemo as seen in the 1954 film Source
The underwater adventure brought the three men all around the World, as far as the South Pole, then back to the Suez Canal (which did not exist back then, the Nautilus supposedly navigate through an underwater cave), to then be taken across the Mediterranean to the Americas, and back under the Sargasso Sea towards northern Europe, which is when the three sailors managed to escape. Captain Nemo had a habit of destroying and sinking ships belonging to a military force from an unidentified country, the government of which presumably killed his family. In some circles it was suggested that Nemo was a Polish fighting against Russia, whereas in other places it is speculated he was from India fighting against the British.
Be as it may, Jules Verne predicted our technologically advanced world with his book 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. He also wrote a variety of other books, including From the Earth to the Moon, where a giant cannon shot some astronauts into orbit from the city of Tampa, Florida. Funny that Cape Kennedy turned out to be in Florida almost one hundred years later!
You can get a free copy of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea here as an ebook.
Other Data
1 Nautical League = 5.556 Kilometers
1 Nautical League = 3.45234 Miles
Also loved From the Earth to the Moon
That one was great!
Verne's astronauts launched from Tampa Town? Did Verne have a time machine or what? This is an interesting fact I didn't know! :)
Yeah gets one thinking...
Ruhmkorff lamp? 1850s? That sounds interesting!
Yup. Although Thomas Edison is the one who successfully created the first light bulbs, there were already other illumination based experiments from before.
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I still remember reading Nemo's adventure as a child .. Let me find out if i still have that book and once again give it a read ..
Cool! If you cannot find it, it is available as a free eBook in many places online.
Thanks!
Everybody should read at least one Jules Verne novel, they all convey how much of a visionary the man actually was.
Indeed so. Its as if he saw the future coming. :)
I hope Disney doesn't ruin it with their planned movie...
I will be reading the book soon!
Nice! It is amazing especially if you take into account that it was written a bit before 1870.
I liked reading 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Yeah! It is amazing if you take into account that it was written a bit before 1870.
Nautilus looks amazing ! I liked it !!
Interesting! Thank you for sharing!
You welcome!
Congratulations! This post has been upvoted from the communal account, @minnowsupport, by heather2000 from the Minnow Support Project. It's a witness project run by aggroed, ausbitbank, teamsteem, theprophet0, and someguy123. The goal is to help Steemit grow by supporting Minnows and creating a social network. Please find us in the Peace, Abundance, and Liberty Network (PALnet) Discord Channel. It's a completely public and open space to all members of the Steemit community who voluntarily choose to be there.
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