Jules Verne

The Voyages and Adventures of Captain Hatteras

Warsaw 2019

Contents

PART I

THE ENGLISH AT THE NORTH POLE

CHAPTER I. THE FORWARD

CHAPTER II. AN UNEXPECTED LETTER

CHAPTER III. DR. CLAWBONNY

CHAPTER IV. THE DOG-CAPTAIN

CHAPTER V. AT SEA

CHAPTER VI. THE GREAT POLAR CURRENT

CHAPTER VII. THE ENTRANCE OF DAVIS STRAIT

CHAPTER VIII. THE TALK OF THE CREW

CHAPTER IX. ANOTHER LETTER

CHAPTER X. DANGEROUS SAILING

CHAPTER XI. THE DEVIL'S THUMB

CHAPTER XII. CAPTAIN HATTERAS

CHAPTER XIII. THE CAPTAIN'S PLANS

CHAPTER XIV. THE EXPEDITIONS IN SEARCH OF FRANKLIN

CHAPTER XV. THE FORWARD DRIVEN SOUTHWARD

CHAPTER XVI. THE MAGNETIC POLE

CHAPTER XVII. THE FATE OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN

CHAPTER XVIII. THE WAY NORTHWARD

CHAPTER XIX. A WHALE IN SIGHT

CHAPTER XX. BEECHEY ISLAND

CHAPTER XXI. THE DEATH OF BELLOT

CHAPTER XXII. THE FIRST SIGNS OF MUTINY

CHAPTER XXIII. ATTACKED BY THE ICE

CHAPTER XXIV. PREPARATIONS FOR WINTERING

CHAPTER XXV. ONE OF JAMES ROSS'S FOXES

CHAPTER XXVI. THE LAST PIECE OF COAL

CHAPTER XXVII. THE GREAT COLD AT CHRISTMAS

CHAPTER XXVIII. PREPARATIONS FOR DEPARTURE

CHAPTER XXIX. ACROSS THE ICE-FIELDS

CHAPTER XXX. THE CAIRN

CHAPTER XXXI. THE DEATH OF SIMPSON

CHAPTER XXXII. THE RETURN TO THE FORWARD

PART II

THE DESERT OF ICE

CHAPTER I. THE DOCTOR'S INVENTORY

CHAPTER II. ALTAMONT'S FIRST WORDS

CHAPTER III. SEVENTEEN DAYS OF LAND JOURNEY

CHAPTER IV. THE LAST CHARGE OF POWDER

CHAPTER V. THE SEAL AND THE BEAR

CHAPTER VI. THE PORPOISE

CHAPTER VII. A DISCUSSION ABOUT CHARTS

CHAPTER VIII. EXCURSION TO THE NORTH OF VICTORIA BAY

CHAPTER IX. COLD AND HEAT

CHAPTER X. THE PLEASURES OF WINTER-QUARTERS

CHAPTER XI. DISQUIETING TRACES

CHAPTER XII. THE ICE PRISON

CHAPTER XIII. THE MINE

CHAPTER XIV. THE POLAR SPRING

CHAPTER XV. THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE

CHAPTER XVI. NORTHERN ARCADIA

CHAPTER XVII. ALTAMONT'S REVENGE

CHAPTER XVIII. THE LAST PREPARATIONS

CHAPTER XIX. THE JOURNEY NORTHWARD

CHAPTER XX. FOOTPRINTS ON THE SNOW

CHAPTER XXI. THE OPEN SEA

CHAPTER XXII. THE APPROACH TO THE POLE

CHAPTER XXIII. THE ENGLISH FLAG

CHAPTER XXIV. POLAR COSMOGRAPHY

CHAPTER XXV. MOUNT HATTERAS

CHAPTER XXVI. RETURN TO THE SOUTH

CHAPTER XXVII. CONCLUSION

PART I

THE ENGLISH AT THE NORTH POLE

CHAPTER I

THE FORWARD.

“To-morrow, at the turn of the tide, the brig Forward, K. Z., captain, Richard Shandon, mate, will clear from New Prince’s Docks; destination unknown.”

This announcement appeared in the Liverpool Herald of April 5, 1860.

The sailing of a brig is not a matter of great importance for the chief commercial city of England. Who would take notice of it in so great a throng of ships of all sizes and of every country, that dry-docks covering two leagues scarcely contain them?

Nevertheless, from early morning on the 6th of April, a large crowd collected on the quays of the New Prince’s Docks; all the sailors of the place seemed to have assembled there. The workingmen of the neighboring wharves had abandoned their tasks, tradesmen had left their gloomy shops, and the merchants their empty warehouses. The many-colored omnibuses which pass outside of the docks were discharging, every minute, their load of sight-seers; the whole city seemed to care for nothing except watching the departure of the Forward.

The Forward was a vessel of one hundred and seventy tons, rigged as a brig, and carrying a screw and a steam-engine of one hundred and twenty horse-power. One would have very easily confounded it with the other brigs in the harbor. But if it presented no especial difference to the eye of the public, yet those who were familiar with ships noticed certain peculiarities which could not escape a sailor’s keen glance.

Thus, on the Nautilus, which was lying at anchor near her, a group of sailors were trying to make out the probable destination of the Forward.

“What do you say to her masts?” said one; “steamers don’t usually carry so much sail.”

“It must be,” answered a red-faced quartermaster, “that she relies more on her sails than on her engine; and if her topsails are of that size, it’s probably because the lower sails are to be laid back. So I’m sure the Forward is going either to the Arctic or Antarctic Ocean, where the icebergs stop the wind more than suits a solid ship.”

“You must be right, Mr. Cornhill,” said a third sailor. “Do you notice how straight her stem is?”

“Besides,” said Mr. Cornhill, “she carries a steel ram forward, as sharp as a razor; if the Forward, going at full speed, should run into a three-decker, she would cut her in two.”

“That’s true,” answered a Mersey pilot, “for that brig can easily run fourteen knots under steam. She was a sight to see on her trial trip. On my word, she’s a swift boat.”

“And she goes well, too, under sail,” continued the quartermaster; “close to the wind, and she’s easily steered. Now that ship is going to the polar seas, or my name is not Cornhill. And then, see there! Do you notice that large helm-port over the head of her rudder?”

“That’s so,” said some of the sailors; “but what does that prove?”

“That proves, my men,” replied the quartermaster with a scornful smile, “that you can neither see nor think; it proves that they wanted to leave the head of the rudder free, so that it might be unshipped and shipped again easily. Don’t you know that’s what they have to do very often in the ice?”

“You are right,” answered the sailors of the Nautilus.

“And besides,” said one, “the lading of the brig goes to prove what Mr. Cornhill has said. I heard it from Clifton, who has shipped on her. The Forward carries provisions for five or six years, and coal in proportion. Coal and provisions are all she carries, and a quantity of woollen and sealskin clothing.”

“Well,” said Mr. Cornhill, “there’s no doubt about it. But, my friend, since you know Clifton, hasn’t he told you where she’s bound?”

“He couldn’t tell me, for he didn’t know; the whole crew was shipped in that way. Where is he going? He won’t know till he gets there.”

“Nor yet if they are going to Davy Jones’s locker,” said one scoffer, “as it seems to me they are.”

“But then, their pay,” continued the friend of Clifton enthusiastically,–”their pay! it’s five times what a sailor usually gets. If it had not been for that, Richard Shandon would not have got a man. A strangely shaped boat, going no one knows where, and as if it never intended coming back! As for me, I should not have cared to ship in her.”

“Whether you would or not,” answered Mr. Cornhill, “you could never have shipped in the Forward.”

“Why not?”

“Because you would not have answered the conditions. I heard that married men were not taken. Now you belong to that class. So you need not say what you would or would not do, since it’s all breath thrown away.”

The sailor who was thus snubbed burst out laughing, as did his companions, showing in this way that Mr. Cornhill’s remarks were true.

“There’s nothing but boldness about the ship,” continued Cornhill, well pleased with himself. “The Forward,–forward to what? Without saying that nobody knows who her captain is.”

“O, yes, they do!” said a young sailor, evidently a green-hand.

“What! They do know?”

“Of course.”

“My young friend,” said Cornhill, “do you think Shandon is the captain of the Forward?„

“Why–” answered the boy.

“Shandon is only the mate, nothing else; he’s a good and brave sailor, an old whaler, a good fellow, able to take command, but he’s not the captain; he’s no more captain than you or I. And who, under God, is going to have charge of the ship, he does not know in the least. At the proper time the captain will come aboard, I don’t know how, and I don’t know where; for Richard Shandon didn’t tell me, nor has he leave to tell me in what direction he was first to sail.”

“Still, Mr. Cornhill,” said the young sailor, “I can tell you that there’s some one on board, some one who was spoken of in the letter in which Mr. Shandon was offered the place of mate.”

“What!” answered Cornhill, “do you mean to tell me that the Forward has a captain on board?”

“Yes, Mr. Cornhill.”

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