When these events happened, I had just returned from a scientific expedition in the unpleasant region of Nebraska, United States.
Because I was an assistant professor at the Museum of Natural History in Paris, the French government had assigned me to join the expedition.
After spending six months in Nebraska, I arrived in New York near the end of March with a valuable collection of specimens.
I was planning to return to France in early May.
Until then, I was busy organizing and studying my collections of minerals, plants, and animals.
Then the strange accident involving the Scotia happened.
I already knew everything about the mystery that everyone was discussing.
How could I not?
I had read every newspaper report from both America and Europe again and again, yet I was no closer to discovering the truth.
The mystery fascinated and confused me.
Since I could not reach a conclusion, my opinion kept changing from one possibility to another.
One thing was certain: something real had caused the damage.
Those who doubted it only needed to examine the strange wound left on the Scotia.
When I arrived in New York, the debate had reached its highest point.
The ideas of a floating island or a hidden sandbank had already been rejected.
After all, unless a sandbank had some kind of engine inside it, how could it move across the ocean with such incredible speed?
For the same reason, people also abandoned the idea that the object was simply the floating remains of a huge shipwreck.
Only two explanations remained.
They created two opposing groups.
One side believed the attacker was a gigantic sea monster with enormous strength.
The other believed it was a powerful submarine vessel.
The submarine theory seemed reasonable at first, but investigations around the world weakened it.
Could a private person really own such an incredible machine?
Where was it built?
When was it built?
How could such a project have remained completely secret?
A government might possibly possess such a dangerous weapon.
During these troubled times, human technology had greatly increased the power of warfare.
It was possible that some nation had secretly developed a terrifying machine without anyone knowing.
After rifles came torpedoes.
After torpedoes came submarine war machines.
Perhaps after that would come a return to peace.
At least, I hoped so.
However, the idea of a secret military submarine soon collapsed after governments gave official statements.
Since the issue affected public safety and international shipping, their words could not simply be ignored.
But how could such a submarine have been created without anyone noticing?
A private inventor would never be able to hide such a project.
And a government would find it almost impossible because rival nations constantly watched each other’s actions.
After investigations in England, France, Russia, Prussia, Spain, Italy, America, and even Turkey, the theory of a submarine weapon was finally rejected.
When I arrived in New York, many people honored me by asking for my opinion about the mysterious event.
I had written a two-volume scientific book called Mysteries of the Great Submarine Grounds.
The scientific community had highly praised my work, and it had given me a reputation in this little-known field of natural history.
People wanted my judgment.
At first, as long as I could deny that the strange creature existed, I firmly rejected the idea.
But soon, when the evidence became impossible to ignore, I had to give a clear answer.
Even the New York Herald asked “Professor Pierre Aronnax of the Paris Museum” to publicly state his opinion.
So I finally spoke.
I discussed the mystery from every possible angle, both scientific and political.
Here is part of the article I published on April 30:
“After examining every possible explanation and rejecting all other ideas, we must accept the possibility that a gigantic marine creature exists.
“The deepest parts of the ocean remain completely unknown to us.
“Scientists cannot reach those enormous depths.
“We do not know what lives there, what creatures may exist twelve or fifteen miles below the surface, or how their bodies might be designed to survive in such an environment.
“If we do not know every living creature on Earth, then it is completely reasonable to believe that unknown fish, whales, or other species may exist.
“Perhaps some unusual event has forced one of these deep-sea creatures to rise to the ocean surface.
“But if we already know every type of living creature, then we must search among the animals that have already been discovered.
“In that case, I would suggest the existence of a gigantic narwhal.”
The ordinary narwhal, sometimes called the unicorn of the sea, can grow up to sixty feet long.
Imagine making it five or ten times larger.
Give it strength equal to its enormous body.
Make its weapon longer and more powerful.
Then you would have the creature we are looking for.
It would have the same size described by the officers of the Shannon, the power needed to damage the Scotia, and the strength required to pierce through a steamship.
The narwhal carries a kind of ivory sword, which some naturalists call a spear or halberd.
Its main tusk is as hard as steel.
Some of these tusks have been found buried inside the bodies of whales that the narwhal attacked successfully.
Others have been pulled from ship hulls after piercing straight through them like a drill through a wooden barrel.
The Museum of the Faculty of Medicine in Paris owns one such weapon.
It is more than two yards long and fifteen inches thick at the base.
Now imagine that weapon becoming six times stronger and the animal becoming ten times more powerful.
If it charged forward at twenty miles per hour, the impact would be enough to create the destruction we had witnessed.
Therefore, until we learn more, I believe the mysterious creature is a gigantic sea unicorn.
It is not armed with a simple tusk, but with a powerful weapon like the iron spikes used on armored warships.
It would possess both the massive body and incredible speed of a military ram.
This explanation solves the mystery—unless the truth is something beyond anything humans have ever imagined, seen, or experienced.
And that possibility cannot be completely ruled out.”
Those final words were somewhat cautious of me.
I wanted to protect my reputation as a professor and avoid becoming a joke among Americans, who have a sharp sense of humor when they find something amusing.
I left myself a way to change my opinion later.
But in reality, I had accepted the existence of the “monster.”
My article attracted great attention.
Many people supported my theory.
At least, it gave people room to imagine.
Human beings have always loved the idea of mysterious and extraordinary creatures.
And the ocean is the perfect place for such wonders.
Unlike land animals, even huge creatures like elephants and rhinoceroses seem tiny compared with the giants that might exist in the endless depths of the sea.
Industrial and commercial newspapers mainly discussed the matter from this perspective.
The Shipping and Mercantile Gazette, Lloyd’s List, Packet-Boat, and Maritime and Colonial Review all agreed on the same point.
These newspapers represented insurance companies, which feared they would have to increase their insurance rates because of the danger.
Public opinion had already chosen its direction.
The United States took the lead.
In New York, preparations began for an expedition to hunt the giant narwhal.
A fast warship called the Abraham Lincoln was quickly placed into service.
The government opened its arsenals for Commander Farragut, who immediately prepared the ship for battle.
But, as often happens, the moment people decided to hunt the monster, it disappeared.
For two months, nobody heard anything about it.
No ship encountered it.
It seemed as if the creature knew about the plans against it.
The story had spread so widely—even through the Atlantic cable—that some people joked that the tiny creature had stopped a telegraph message halfway across the ocean and was enjoying its fame.
When the Abraham Lincoln was finally equipped for a long journey and supplied with powerful hunting equipment, nobody knew where to search.
Everyone became impatient.
Then, on July 2, news arrived that a San Francisco steamship traveling from California to Shanghai had seen the creature three weeks earlier in the North Pacific Ocean.
The excitement was enormous.
The ship was quickly supplied with fresh food and loaded with coal.
Three hours before the Abraham Lincoln left the Brooklyn pier, I received a letter:
“Professor Aronnax, Museum of Paris, Fifth Avenue Hotel, New York.
Sir,
If you are willing to join the Abraham Lincoln on this expedition, the United States government would be honored to have France represented in this mission.
Commander Farragut has reserved a cabin for you.
Sincerely,
J. B. Hobson
Secretary of the Navy”