Chapter-1
The year 1866 was marked by several strange and mysterious events at sea. Ships from many countries had met an ‘enormous black thing’ hundreds of feet long. It was larger than any creature known to scientists. The ‘thing’ gave off an eerie glow under-water and spurted columns of water hundreds of feet into the air.
The ‘thing’ was sighted in July off the coast of Australia, then, three days later, in the waters of the Pacific Ocean more than 2,100 miles away. The next sighting, two weeks later, was in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, 6,000 miles away. What an extraordinary creature this must be to move from one place to another in such a short time!
Reports of this ‘thing’ caused great excitement in every country of the world. Wild stories about all kinds of sea monsters appeared in newspapers in every language of the globe. Scientists argued among themselves as to whether such a huge, speedy sea monster could exist.
Then, early in 1867, this sea monster stopped being a scientific problem and became a real danger. Merchant steamers and passenger ships were being struck by something! Was it a rock? A reef? Or this sea monster?
One ship, the Scotia, was examined in drydock after a collision at sea. Its engineers couldn’t believe their eyes. A hole in the shape of a perfect triangle had opened up its thick steel hull.
I had read about these events during my visit to the United States where I was gathering plants, animals and minerals for the Paris Museum. As Professor of Natural History at the museum and as author of a book called Mysteries of the Ocean Depths, I, Monsieur Pierre Aronnax, am considered an expert on undersea life.
But I was as puzzled about this monster as everyone else. I searched my mind for a creature that might fit the descriptions given by various sea captains. I came up with the narwhal—a kind of whale which can grow to a length of sixty feet. A gigantic one, hundreds of feet long, might very well exist in the unexplored ocean depths. Then too, the narwhal has a tusk as hard as steel. It could have made the hole in the hull of the Scotia.
The United States government decided to take steps to rid the seas of this terrible monster. A very fast warship was outfitted with every known weapon—from harpoons to cannons—to track down and kill the creature.
Through the kindness of President Andrew Johnson, I was invited to join this expedition in search of the narwhal. Together with my loyal servant, Conseil, who for ten years had never left my side anywhere in the world, I boarded the warship Abraham Lincoln.
Commander Farragut welcomed us aboard and soon the ship moved out into New York Harbour. Hundreds of ferryboats filled with cheering people followed us for an hour. The Abraham Lincoln lowered and raised its thirty-nine-star American flag in thanks.
We followed the coast of Long Island eastward and, by nightfall, we entered the dark waters of the Atlantic Ocean.
