The voyage beneath the seas had finally come to an end.
What happened on that terrifying night, how the Nautilus escaped from the deadly whirlpool, and how Ned Land, Conseil, and I survived the crushing power of the maelstrom—I still cannot explain.
When I finally regained consciousness, I found myself lying in a fisherman’s cottage on the Loffoden Islands.
My two companions were beside me. They were safe and unharmed, holding my hands.
We looked at one another, and with overwhelming joy, we embraced.
At that moment, we had no way to return to France.
Travel between northern Norway and the southern regions was extremely limited. Therefore, we had no choice but to wait for the monthly steamboat that passed by Cape North.
While staying with the kind and honest people who had welcomed us into their homes, I began reviewing the record of our incredible adventure once again.
I had left out nothing.
I had exaggerated nothing.
Every event, every detail, and every discovery was recorded exactly as it happened.
This was the true story of an unbelievable journey through a world hidden beneath the ocean—a world that humans could not reach easily, but one that future progress might someday open to mankind.
Would people believe my story?
I do not know.
And, in the end, it does not matter.
What I know is that I have the right to speak about those mysterious seas.
In less than ten months, I crossed twenty thousand leagues beneath the waves during that extraordinary underwater journey around the world. I witnessed countless wonders that few humans had ever imagined.
But what happened to the Nautilus?
Did it survive the terrible force of the maelstrom?
Is Captain Nemo still alive?
Does he still travel through the depths of the ocean, carrying out his terrible acts of revenge?
Or did he finally stop after that last great destruction?
Will the waves someday carry this manuscript to him, revealing the story of his life?
Will I ever discover the true name of this mysterious man?
Will some lost vessel, found one day, reveal the nationality and identity of Captain Nemo?
I hope so.
I also hope that his powerful ship defeated the most dangerous forces of the ocean, and that the Nautilus survived in the very place where so many ships had disappeared forever.
If that is true—if Captain Nemo still lives beneath the sea, the world he chose as his home—then I hope the hatred inside his fierce heart has finally faded.
May the endless beauty of the ocean’s wonders erase his desire for revenge forever.
May he no longer be a judge seeking punishment, but a philosopher peacefully studying the secrets of the sea.
His fate may be mysterious, but it is also extraordinary.
Have I not understood something of his feelings myself?
Did I not spend ten months living that strange and impossible life?
And to the ancient question written in Ecclesiastes thousands of years ago:
“Who can discover that which is far away and deeply hidden?”
Only two men alive today have the right to answer:
Captain Nemo and myself.