A moment later, Captain Nemo and I were sitting on a sofa in the saloon, smoking quietly.
The Captain handed me a drawing showing the plan, side view, and structure of the Nautilus. Then he began to explain.
“Here, M. Aronnax, are the exact measurements of the submarine you are now living in.
“The Nautilus is a long cylinder with pointed ends. Its shape is very similar to a cigar, a design already used in several submarine experiments in London.
“From the front to the back, the vessel is exactly 232 feet long. Its widest point is 26 feet.
“It is not built like an ordinary long-distance steamship. Instead, its body is carefully shaped with long, smooth curves, allowing water to flow around it without resistance.
“From these two measurements alone, we can calculate the surface area and the internal volume of the Nautilus.
“Its surface area is 6,032 square feet, and its total volume is about 1,500 cubic yards.
“When completely underwater, it pushes aside 50,000 cubic feet of water, which means it weighs about 1,500 tons.”
I listened carefully as Nemo continued.
“When I designed this submarine, I intended nine-tenths of it to remain underwater during normal operation.
“Therefore, it should only need to displace nine-tenths of its total volume. In other words, its weight should not exceed about 1,350 tons.
“The Nautilus is made of two separate hulls. One is inside the other, and they are connected by strong T-shaped iron supports.
“This special structure makes the submarine almost as strong as a solid block of metal.
“Its sides cannot bend under pressure. The strength does not come only from the rivets holding it together, but from the perfect connection of all its materials.
“This design allows it to survive even the roughest seas.”
“The two hulls are made of steel plates. Their density is between seven-tenths and eight-tenths that of water.
“The inner hull is two and a half inches thick and weighs 394 tons.
“The outer shell, including the keel—which is 20 inches high and 10 inches thick—weighs another 62 tons.
“The engine, ballast tanks, equipment, internal walls, and other machinery together weigh 961.62 tons.
“Do you understand my calculations?”
“Yes, Captain,” I answered.
“Good.
“When the Nautilus floats in this condition, one-tenth of the vessel remains above the water.
“If I build tanks large enough to hold that missing tenth—about 150 tons of water—and fill them, the submarine will become completely submerged.
“Those tanks are located at the bottom of the Nautilus. I simply open the valves, the tanks fill with water, and the vessel that was floating on the surface begins to sink.”
“That sounds reasonable, Captain,” I said.
“But now we come to the real problem.
“I understand how you can rise back to the surface. But when you dive deep underwater, does not the enormous pressure of the ocean push upward against the submarine?
“At every thirty feet of depth, the pressure increases by about one atmosphere, or fifteen pounds per square inch.”
“You are correct, Professor.”
“Then unless you completely fill the Nautilus with water, I cannot see how you can force it down to great depths.”
“Professor, you must not confuse balance with movement, or you will reach the wrong conclusion.
“A submarine does not require much effort to descend because every object naturally tends to sink.
“When I wanted to calculate how much additional weight was needed to make the Nautilus dive, I only had to consider how much seawater becomes compressed as the depth increases.”
“That makes sense.”
“Although water is often considered impossible to compress, it actually does shrink slightly under pressure.
“Modern experiments show that the reduction is only about 0.000436 of its volume for every thirty feet of depth.
“If I wanted to take the Nautilus down 3,000 feet, I would only need to account for the change in water density caused by the pressure.
“The calculation is simple.
“I have additional tanks capable of holding 100 tons of water. With them, I can reach considerable depths.
“When I want to return to the surface, I release the water from the tanks.
“If I empty them completely, the Nautilus rises until only one-tenth of its total size remains underwater.”
I had no answer to his explanation.
“I accept your calculations, Captain,” I said.
“I would be foolish to argue against them because experience proves they work.
“But I still see one serious difficulty.”
“What difficulty, Professor?”
“When you are about 1,000 feet below the surface, the walls of the Nautilus must withstand a pressure of about 100 atmospheres.
“If you emptied your extra tanks at that depth to make the submarine lighter, your pumps would have to fight against a pressure of nearly 1,500 pounds per square inch.
“That would require an enormous amount of power—”
“Power that only electricity can provide,” Nemo interrupted quickly.
“I repeat, Professor, the power of my engines is almost unlimited.
“You have already seen the incredible force of my pumps when their water streams struck the Abraham Lincoln like a waterfall.
“Besides, I only use the extra tanks to reach ordinary deep-sea levels of 750 to 1,000 fathoms.
“When I wish to explore depths of five or six miles beneath the ocean surface, I use slower but equally reliable methods.”
“What methods are those, Captain?”
“That requires me to explain how the Nautilus is controlled.”
“I am eager to hear it.”
“To turn the submarine left or right, I use a normal rudder attached to the rear of the vessel.
“A steering wheel and a system of controls allow me to guide its direction.
“But the Nautilus can also move upward and downward.
“For this purpose, I use two adjustable planes attached to both sides of the vessel near its center of balance.
“These planes can move in different directions and are controlled by powerful levers inside.
“When the planes remain level with the submarine, the Nautilus moves straight forward.
“When I tilt them, the submarine follows a diagonal path downward or upward, depending on the angle.
“If I want to rise quickly, I stop the propeller.
“Then the pressure of the water pushes the Nautilus upward, making it rise like a hydrogen balloon.”
“Excellent, Captain!
“But how can the pilot know the direction in the middle of the ocean?”
“The pilot sits inside a glass-covered cabin above the hull.
“It is equipped with powerful lenses.”
“Can those lenses survive the pressure of the deep ocean?”
“Certainly.
“Glass may break easily when struck, but it can resist tremendous pressure.
“During electric-light fishing experiments in the northern seas in 1864, glass plates less than one-third of an inch thick survived pressures of sixteen atmospheres.
“My glass windows are thirty times thicker.”
“I understand.
“But even the strongest glass cannot help if there is no light.
“How can you see in the darkness of the deep sea?”
“Behind the pilot’s cabin is a powerful electric reflector.
“Its beam lights up the ocean half a mile ahead of the Nautilus.”
“Ah! Now I understand!
“That explains the strange glowing light around the creature we thought was a narwhal.
“Captain, was the collision between the Nautilus and the Scotia also accidental?”
“Completely accidental, Professor.
“I was sailing only one fathom beneath the surface when the collision happened.
“Fortunately, it caused no serious damage.”
“And what about your encounter with the Abraham Lincoln?”
“Professor, I regret damaging such an excellent American warship.
“But they attacked me first, and I had to defend myself.
“I only disabled the frigate.
“She should have no trouble being repaired at the next port.”
“Commander, your Nautilus is truly a remarkable vessel.”
“Yes, Professor.
“I love it as much as I would love a part of my own body.
“On ordinary ships, when danger appears, sailors feel trapped between the ocean above and the abyss below.
“But aboard the Nautilus, people do not fear.
“There are no weak points to worry about because the double hull is stronger than iron.
“There are no ropes or sails to be damaged by storms.
“There are no boilers that can explode.
“There is no danger of fire because the vessel is made of metal, not wood.
“There is no need for coal because electricity provides all the power.
“There is no danger of collision because the Nautilus travels alone in the deep ocean.
“There are no storms to fight because once it dives below the surface, it enters a world of complete silence and peace.
“That is the perfection of a ship, Professor.
“If it is true that an engineer trusts his creation more than a builder trusts his work, and a builder trusts his work more than a captain trusts his ship, then you can understand how much I trust the Nautilus.
“I am not only its captain.
“I am also its designer and engineer.”
“But how were you able to build such a wonderful submarine without anyone discovering your work?”
“Every part of the Nautilus, M. Aronnax, was manufactured in a different place around the world.
“The keel was forged at Creusot.
“The propeller shaft came from Penn & Co. in London.
“The steel plates were made at Laird’s shipyard in Liverpool.
“The propeller itself was built at Scott’s factory in Glasgow.
“The water tanks came from Cail & Co. in Paris.
“The engine was produced by Krupp in Prussia.
“The front section was built in Motala, Sweden.
“The scientific instruments came from Hart Brothers in New York.
“And many other parts came from different places.
“Each company received my orders under different names.”
“But after all those parts were made, someone had to assemble them.”
“Of course.
“I built my own workshops on a deserted island in the middle of the ocean.
“There, my workers—the brave men I trained myself—and I assembled the Nautilus.
“When the work was finished, fire destroyed every trace of our activities.
“The island itself was so small that I could have crossed it in a single jump.”
“Then the cost of such a vessel must have been enormous.”
“M. Aronnax, an iron ship costs about £45 per ton.
“The Nautilus weighs 1,500 tons, so the basic cost was about £67,500.
“The equipment required another £80,000.
“With the artwork, scientific collections, and other treasures inside, the total cost reached nearly £200,000.”
“One final question, Captain Nemo.”
“Ask it, Professor.”
“Are you wealthy?”
“Extremely wealthy, sir.
“I could pay off the entire national debt of France without even noticing the loss.”
I stared at this extraordinary man.
Was he simply trying to impress me?
Only time would reveal the truth.