Part One.: Chapter 19: Torres Straits

by Jules Verne

　　During the night of the 27th or 28th of December,the Nautilus left the shores of Vanikoro with great speed.Her course was south-westerly, and in three days she had goneover the 750 leagues that separated it from La Perouse's groupand the south-east point of Papua.

　　Early on the 1st of January, 1863, Conseil joined me on the platform.

　　"Master, will you permit me to wish you a happy New Year?"

　　"What! Conseil; exactly as if I was at Paris in my studyat the Jardin des Plantes? Well, I accept your good wishes,and thank you for them. Only, I will ask you what you meanby a `Happy New Year' under our circumstances? Do you meanthe year that will bring us to the end of our imprisonment,or the year that sees us continue this strange voyage?"

　　"Really, I do not know how to answer, master. We are sure to seecurious things, and for the last two months we have not had timefor dullness. The last marvel is always the most astonishing;and, if we continue this progression, I do not know how it will end.It is my opinion that we shall never again see the like.I think then, with no offence to master, that a happy year would beone in which we could see everything."

　　On 2nd January we had made 11,340 miles, or 5,250French leagues, since our starting-point in the Japan Seas.Before the ship's head stretched the dangerous shoresof the coral sea, on the north-east coast of Australia.Our boat lay along some miles from the redoubtable bankon which Cook's vessel was lost, 10th June, 1770. The boatin which Cook was struck on a rock, and, if it did not sink,it was owing to a piece of coral that was broken by the shock,and fixed itself in the broken keel.

　　I had wished to visit the reef, 360 leagues long, against which the sea,always rough, broke with great violence, with a noise like thunder.But just then the inclined planes drew the Nautilus down to a great depth,and I could see nothing of the high coral walls. I had to contentmyself with the different specimens of fish brought up by the nets.I remarked, among others, some germons, a species of mackerel as largeas a tunny, with bluish sides, and striped with transverse bands,that disappear with the animal's life. These fish followed us in shoals,and furnished us with very delicate food. We took also a large numberof giltheads, about one and a half inches long, tasting like dorys;and flying fire-fish like submarine swallows, which, in dark nights,light alternately the air and water with their phosphorescent light.{2sentences missing here}

　　Two days after crossing the coral sea, 4th January, we sightedthe Papuan coasts. On this occasion, Captain Nemo informed me that hisintention was to get into the Indian Ocean by the Strait of Torres.His communication ended there.

　　The Torres Straits are nearly thirty-four leagues wide; but they areobstructed by an innumerable quantity of islands, islets, breakers,and rocks, that make its navigation almost impracticable;so that Captain Nemo took all needful precautions to cross them.The Nautilus, floating betwixt wind and water, went at a moderate pace.Her screw, like a cetacean's tail, beat the waves slowly.

　　Profiting by this, I and my two companions went up on to thedeserted platform. Before us was the steersman's cage, and I expectedthat Captain Nemo was there directing the course of the Nautilus.I had before me the excellent charts of the Straits of Torres, and Iconsulted them attentively. Round the Nautilus the sea dashed furiously.The course of the waves, that went from south-east to north-west atthe rate of two and a half miles, broke on the coral that showed itselfhere and there.

　　"This is a bad sea!" remarked Ned Land.

　　"Detestable indeed, and one that does not suit a boat like the Nautilus."

　　"The Captain must be very sure of his route, for I see there pieces of coralthat would do for its keel if it only touched them slightly."

　　Indeed the situation was dangerous, but the Nautilus seemed to slidelike magic off these rocks. It did not follow the routes of theAstrolabe and the Zelee exactly, for they proved fatal to Dumontd'Urville. It bore more northwards, coasted the Islands of Murray,and came back to the south-west towards Cumberland Passage.I thought it was going to pass it by, when, going back to north-west,it went through a large quantity of islands and islets little known,towards the Island Sound and Canal Mauvais.

　　I wondered if Captain Nemo, foolishly imprudent, would steer hisvessel into that pass where Dumont d'Urville's two corvettes touched;when, swerving again, and cutting straight through to the west,he steered for the Island of Gilboa.

　　It was then three in the afternoon. The tide began to recede,being quite full. The Nautilus approached the island, that Istill saw, with its remarkable border of screw-pines. He stood offit at about two miles distant. Suddenly a shock overthrew me.The Nautilus just touched a rock, and stayed immovable,laying lightly to port side.

　　When I rose, I perceived Captain Nemo and his lieutenant on the platform.They were examining the situation of the vessel, and exchanging words intheir incomprehensible dialect.

　　She was situated thus: Two miles, on the starboard side,appeared Gilboa, stretching from north to west like an immense arm.Towards the south and east some coral showed itself, left by the ebb.We had run aground, and in one of those seas where the tidesare middling--a sorry matter for the floating of the Nautilus.However, the vessel had not suffered, for her keel was solidly joined.But, if she could neither glide off nor move, she ran the riskof being for ever fastened to these rocks, and then Captain Nemo'ssubmarine vessel would be done for.

　　I was reflecting thus, when the Captain, cool and calm,always master of himself, approached me.

　　"An accident?" I asked.

　　"No; an incident."

　　"But an incident that will oblige you perhaps to become an inhabitantof this land from which you flee?"

　　Captain Nemo looked at me curiously, and made a negative gesture, as muchas to say that nothing would force him to set foot on terra firma again.Then he said:

　　"Besides, M. Aronnax, the Nautilus is not lost; it willcarry you yet into the midst of the marvels of the ocean.Our voyage is only begun, and I do not wish to be deprived so soonof the honour of your company."

　　"However, Captain Nemo," I replied, without noticing the ironicalturn of his phrase, "the Nautilus ran aground in open sea.Now the tides are not strong in the Pacific; and, if you cannotlighten the Nautilus, I do not see how it will be reinflated."

　　"The tides are not strong in the Pacific: you are right there,Professor; but in Torres Straits one finds still a differenceof a yard and a half between the level of high and low seas.To-day is 4th January, and in five days the moon will be full.Now, I shall be very much astonished if that satellite doesnot raise these masses of water sufficiently, and render mea service that I should be indebted to her for."

　　Having said this, Captain Nemo, followed by his lieutenant,redescended to the interior of the Nautilus. As to the vessel,it moved not, and was immovable, as if the coralline polypi hadalready walled it up with their in destructible cement.

　　"Well, sir?" said Ned Land, who came up to me after the departureof the Captain.

　　"Well, friend Ned, we will wait patiently for the tide on the 9th instant;for it appears that the moon will have the goodness to put it off again."

　　"Really?"

　　"Really."

　　"And this Captain is not going to cast anchor at all since the tidewill suffice?" said Conseil, simply.

　　The Canadian looked at Conseil, then shrugged his shoulders.

　　"Sir, you may believe me when I tell you that this piece of iron will navigateneither on nor under the sea again; it is only fit to be sold for its weight.I think, therefore, that the time has come to part company with Captain Nemo."

　　"Friend Ned, I do not despair of this stout Nautilus, as you do;and in four days we shall know what to hold to on the Pacific tides.Besides, flight might be possible if we were in sight of the Englishor Provencal coast; but on the Papuan shores, it is another thing;and it will be time enough to come to that extremity if the Nautilusdoes not recover itself again, which I look upon as a grave event."

　　"But do they know, at least, how to act circumspectly? There is an island;on that island there are trees; under those trees, terrestrial animals,bearers of cutlets and roast beef, to which I would willingly give a trial."

　　"In this, friend Ned is right," said Conseil, "and I agree with him.Could not master obtain permission from his friend Captain Nemo to put uson land, if only so as not to lose the habit of treading on the solid partsof our planet?"

　　"I can ask him, but he will refuse."

　　"Will master risk it?" asked Conseil, "and we shall know how to relyupon the Captain's amiability."

　　To my great surprise, Captain Nemo gave me the permission I asked for,and he gave it very agreeably, without even exacting from me a promiseto return to the vessel; but flight across New Guinea might bevery perilous, and I should not have counselled Ned Land to attempt it.Better to be a prisoner on board the Nautilus than to fall into the handsof the natives.

　　At eight o'clock, armed with guns and hatchets, we got off the Nautilus.The sea was pretty calm; a slight breeze blew on land.Conseil and I rowing, we sped along quickly, and Ned steeredin the straight passage that the breakers left between them.The boat was well handled, and moved rapidly.

　　Ned Land could not restrain his joy. He was like a prisoner that had escapedfrom prison, and knew not that it was necessary to re-enter it.

　　"Meat! We are going to eat some meat; and what meat!" he replied."Real game! no, bread, indeed."

　　"I do not say that fish is not good; we must not abuse it;but a piece of fresh venison, grilled on live coals,will agreeably vary our ordinary course."

　　"Glutton!" said Conseil, "he makes my mouth water."

　　"It remains to be seen," I said, "if these forests are full of game,and if the game is not such as will hunt the hunter himself."

　　"Well said, M. Aronnax," replied the Canadian, whose teeth seemedsharpened like the edge of a hatchet; "but I will eat tiger--loin of tiger--if there is no other quadruped on this island."

　　"Friend Ned is uneasy about it," said Conseil.

　　"Whatever it may be," continued Ned Land, "every animal with fourpaws without feathers, or with two paws without feathers,will be saluted by my first shot."

　　"Very well! Master Land's imprudences are beginning."

　　"Never fear, M. Aronnax," replied the Canadian; "I do not wanttwenty-five minutes to offer you a dish, of my sort."

　　At half-past eight the Nautilus boat ran softly agroundon a heavy sand, after having happily passed the coral reefthat surrounds the Island of Gilboa.