Name: 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas (Walter) — Chapter 13
Author: Jules Verne

Quotes from 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas… (Jules Verne)

Jules Verne, 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas… (1870)

“ Aboard a conventional ship, facing the ocean's perils, danger lurks everywhere; on the surface of the sea, your chief sensation is the constant feeling of an underlying chasm, as the Dutchman Jansen so aptly put it; but below the waves aboard the Nautilus, your heart never fails you! There are no structural deformities to worry about, because the double hull of this boat has the rigidity of iron; no rigging to be worn out by rolling and pitching on the waves; no sails for the wind to carry off ”

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Source: Wikisource

Jules Verne, 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas… (1870)

“ Sir, I repeat: the dynamic power of my engines is nearly infinite. The Nautilus's pumps have prodigious strength, as you must have noticed when their waterspouts swept like a torrent over the Abraham Lincoln. Besides, I use my supplementary ballast tanks only to reach an average depth of 1,500 to 2,000 meters, and that with a view to conserving my machinery. Accordingly, when I have a mind to visit the ocean depths two or three vertical leagues beneath the surface, I use maneuvers that are more time–consuming but no less infallible. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Jules Verne, 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas… (1870)

“ If they slant, the Nautilus follows the angle of that slant and, under its propeller's thrust, either sinks on a diagonal as steep as it suits me, or rises on that diagonal. And similarly, if I want to return more swiftly to the surface, I throw the propeller in gear, and the water's pressure makes the Nautilus rise vertically, as an air balloon inflated with hydrogen lifts swiftly into the skies. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Jules Verne, 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas… (1870)

“ And if it's true that the engineer has more confidence in a craft than the builder, and the builder more than the captain himself, you can understand the utter abandon with which I place my trust in this Nautilus, since I'm its captain, builder, and engineer all in one! ”

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Source: Wikisource

Jules Verne, 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas… (1870)

“ When you're at a depth of 1,000 meters, the Nautilus's plating bears a pressure of 100 atmospheres. If at this point you want to empty the supplementary ballast tanks in order to lighten your boat and rise to the surface, your pumps must overcome that pressure of 100 atmospheres, which is 100 kilograms per each square centimeter. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Jules Verne, 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas… (1870)

“ Now then, I use glass windows measuring no less than twenty–one centimeters at their centers; in other words, they've thirty times the thickness."
"Fair enough, captain, but if we're going to see, we need light to drive away the dark, and in the midst of the murky waters, I wonder how your helmsman can—"
"Set astern of the pilothouse is a powerful electric reflector whose rays light up the sea for a distance of half a mile." ”

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Source: Wikisource

Jules Verne, 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas… (1870)

“ I replied.
"So," the captain went on, "when the Nautilus lies on the waves under these conditions, one–tenth of it does emerge above water. Now then, if I provide some ballast tanks equal in capacity to that one–tenth, hence able to hold 150.72 metric tons, and if I fill them with water, the boat then displaces 1,507.2 metric tons—or it weighs that much—and it would be completely submerged. That's what comes about, professor. These ballast tanks exist within easy access in the lower reaches of the Nautilus. ”

Jules Verne

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Quotes from 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas… (Jules Verne)

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Jules Verne

Summary

Quotes from 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas… (Jules Verne)

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