Part 2 · Chapter 6The Grecian Archipelago

The Greek Islands. The next day, February twelfth, at sunrise, the Nautilus surfaced. I rushed to the platform. Three miles south, I could just make out the hazy outline of Pelusium. A current had swept us from one sea to another. Around seven o’clock, Ned and Conseil joined me.

"Well, Sir Naturalist," the Canadian said, sounding pretty cheerful, "what about the Mediterranean?"

"We’re floating on its surface, friend Ned."

"Seriously?" Conseil asked. "Tonight?"

"Yep, tonight. We passed that impossible land bridge in just a few minutes."

"I don’t buy it," the Canadian replied.

"You’re wrong, Master Land," I continued. " That low coastline curving south is the Egyptian coast. And you, Ned, with your sharp eyes, you can see the jetty at Port Said stretching out into the sea." The Canadian looked closely.

"You’re totally right, sir, and your Captain is amazing. We’re in the Mediterranean. Awesome! Now, if you don't mind, let's talk about our little thing, but quietly, so no one hears."

I got what the Canadian wanted, and honestly, I figured it was best to let him talk, so we all three went and sat down near the lantern, where we were less splashed by the rotor blades.

"Okay, Ned, spill it. What’s on your mind?"

"It’s pretty simple. We’re in Europe, and before Captain Nemo’s crazy ideas drag us back down to the Arctic or off to Oceania, I want to leave the Nautilus."

I didn't want to hold my companions back, but I definitely didn’t want to leave Captain Nemo either.

Thanks to him, and thanks to his tech, I was getting closer and closer to finishing my studies of the deep sea. I was rewriting my book on underwater depths in its actual element. Would I ever get another chance to see the ocean’s wonders? Absolutely not!

And I couldn’t imagine ditching the Nautilus before we’d explored everything it had to offer.

"Ned, be honest with me. Are you tired of being on board? Do you regret that fate put us in Captain Nemo’s hands?"

The Canadian paused for a moment. Then, crossing his arms, he said:

"Honestly, I don’t regret this journey under the seas. I’m glad I did it. But now that it’s done, let’s wrap it up. That’s my thinking." "It will end, Ned." "Where and when?"

"Where I don’t know - when I can’t say. Or, rather, I guess it will end when these seas have nothing left to teach us."

"So, what are you hoping for?" demanded the Canadian.

"That something will happen, maybe six months from now, that we can take advantage of."

"Oh!" said Ned Land. "And where will we be in six months, if you don’t mind me asking, Sir Naturalist?"

"Maybe in China; you know the Nautilus is super fast. It cuts through the water like swallows through the air, or like an express train on land. It doesn’t fear busy seas; who knows, it might even hit the coasts of France, England, or America, where we could try a quick getaway."

"M. Aronnax," replied the Canadian, "your arguments are totally flimsy. You’re talking about the future, ‘We’ll be there! We’ll be here!’ I’m talking about the present, ‘We’re here, and we need to make the most of it.’"

Ned Land’s logic hit me hard, and I felt like I was losing. I didn't know what to say to turn things around.

"Sir," continued Ned, "let’s imagine the impossible: if Captain Nemo offered you your freedom today, would you take it?" "I don’t know," I answered.

"And if," he added, "the offer made today could never be repeated, would you accept it?"

"Hey, Ned, this is my answer. Your reasoning isn’t working for me. We can’t count on Captain Nemo being nice to us. It’s just common sense that he won't let us go. But, on the flip side, we need to jump on the first chance we get to leave the Nautilus."

"Well, M. Aronnax, that’s a smart thing to say."

"Just one thing - just one. We need a serious situation, and our first attempt has to work; if it fails, we’re done, and Captain Nemo will never forgive us."

"That’s true," replied the Canadian.

"But that applies to any attempt to escape, whether it’s in two years or two days. The question is, if a good opportunity shows up, we have to take it."

"Totally! And now, Ned, what do you mean by a ‘good opportunity’?"

"It’s when the Nautilus gets close to a European coast on a dark night."

"And you’ll try to save yourself by swimming?"

"Yeah, if we’re close enough to shore, and the ship is floating. Not if the bank is way off, and the boat is underwater." "And if that happens?"

"Then I’m trying to take over the pinnace. I know how it works. We get inside, pull the bolts, and we’re on the surface without even the pilot in the front knowing we’re gone."

"Alright, Ned, keep an eye out for the opportunity; but don’t mess this up." "I won’t forget, sir."

"And now, Ned, you want to know what I think about your plan?" "Definitely, M. Aronnax."

"Well, I’m not saying I hope it happens, but I don’t think we’ll ever get a good opportunity." "Why not?"

"Because Captain Nemo knows we haven’t given up on getting free, and he’s going to be extra careful, especially near European coasts."

"We’ll see," replied Ned Land, shaking his head stubbornly.

"And now, Ned Land," I added, "let’s drop it. No more talk about this. When you’re ready, come tell us, and we’ll follow you. I’m counting on you."

And that ended a conversation that, not too long from then, led to some serious consequences. I have to say that things seemed to prove me right, much to the Canadian’s frustration. Was Captain Nemo suspicious of us in these busy waters?

Or was he just trying to hide from all the ships of every country sailing the Mediterranean? I couldn’t tell; but we were often far out at sea, away from the coast.

Or, if the Nautilus did surface, all you could see was the pilot’s cage; and sometimes it dove really deep - between the Greek islands and Asia Minor, we couldn’t touch the bottom even at a thousand fathoms.

All I knew was that we were near the Island of Carpathos, one of the Sporades, because Captain Nemo recited these lines from Virgil:

"Est Carpathio Neptuni gurgite vates, Caeruleus Proteus,"

as he pointed to a spot on the globe.

It was indeed the ancient home of Proteus, the old shepherd of Neptune’s flocks, now the Island of Scarpanto, between Rhodes and Crete. I could only see the rocky base through the glass walls of the lounge.

The next day, February fourteenth, I decided to spend some time studying the fish of the islands, but for some reason, the walls stayed sealed. When I checked the Nautilus’s course, we were heading towards Candia, the old Isle of Crete.

When I got on the Abraham Lincoln, the whole island was in a rebellion against the Turkish rulers. But I had no idea how things had gone since then, and Captain Nemo, cut off from all land communication, couldn’t tell me either.

I didn't mention anything about what happened when I found myself alone with him that night in the lounge. Plus, he seemed super quiet and lost in thought. Then, totally out of character, he opened both panels, and just stared intently at the water.

I couldn't figure out what he was up to, so I just watched the fish swimming by.

Suddenly, a guy popped up in the water - a diver, carrying a leather pouch at his belt. He wasn't just floating; he was a living man, swimming with a strong stroke, surfacing occasionally to take a breath.

I turned to Captain Nemo, and blurted out, "A man! A shipwrecked sailor! We have to save him, no matter what!"

"A man! A shipwrecked sailor!" I shouted again.

The Captain didn't reply, but just leaned against the panel.

The guy had gotten closer, and was staring at us through the glass.

To my total shock, Captain Nemo actually signaled to him. The diver responded with his hand, quickly swam to the surface, and disappeared.

Don’t worry about it, said Captain Nemo. It’s Nicholas from Cape Matapan, they call him Pesca. He’s a big deal in all the Cyclades. A fearless diver! The water's his element - he lives more in it than on land, bouncing from island to island, even all the way to Crete.

You know him, Captain? Why wouldn’t I, M. Aronnax?

With that, Captain Nemo headed towards a piece of furniture near the left panel of the lounge. I noticed a chest bound with iron beside it, with a copper plate on the lid displaying the Nautilus’s symbol.

At that moment, the Captain, without even noticing me, opened the piece of furniture - like a strongbox - filled with tons of ingots.

Gold ingots. Where did this precious metal come from? It was a fortune! Where did the Captain get all this gold, and what was he planning to do with it?

I didn’t say a word. I just watched. Captain Nemo took the ingots one by one, arranging them neatly in the chest, which he completely filled. I guessed it weighed over four thousand pounds - nearly two hundred pounds,zero worth of gold.

The chest was securely locked, and the Captain wrote an address on the lid, using characters that looked like Modern Greek.

Then, he pressed a button, connected to the crew’s quarters. Four men appeared, and, after some effort, pushed the chest out of the lounge. I heard them hoisting it up the iron staircase with pulleys.

At that moment, Captain Nemo turned to me.

"And you were saying, sir?" he asked.

"I wasn’t saying anything, Captain," I replied.

"Then, sir, if you’ll allow me, I’ll wish you good night."

He turned and left the lounge.

I went back to my room totally freaked out. I tried to sleep, but couldn't - I was trying to figure out what the diver’s appearance and the chest full of gold had to do with each other. Soon, I felt the Nautilus starting to rise, leaving the depths and heading back to the surface.

I heard footsteps on the platform; I knew they were releasing and launching the pinnace onto the waves. For a second, it bumped against the Nautilus, then everything went quiet.

Two hours later, the same sounds started up again - the boat being hoisted on board, put back in its place, and the Nautilus diving back under the waves.

So, all those millions had been delivered to their destination. But where on the continent? Who was Captain Nemo’s contact?

The next day, I told Conseil and the Canadian about what had happened the night before, and it had seriously stoked my curiosity. My companions were just as shocked as I was.

"But where does he take his millions to?" asked Ned Land.

There was no answer to that. I went back to the saloon after breakfast and got to work. I spent the whole day, until five o'clock, organizing my notes. Then - (I donn't know why, really) - I suddenly felt this crazy heat, and had to take off my jacket.

It was weird, because we were way down south, and even then, the Nautilus, being underwater, shouldn't have changed temperature at all. I checked the pressure gauge; it showed we were sixty feet down, way too deep for the sun to reach.

I kept working, but the temperature just kept climbing, getting totally unbearable.

"Could there be a fire on board?" I wondered.

I was leaving the saloon when Captain Nemo came in. He headed straight for the thermometer, glanced at it, and then turned to me. "Forty-two degrees."

"I noticed it, Captain," I said. " If it gets much hotter, we’re not going to be able to handle it."

"Don’t worry, sir, it won't get hotter if we don’t want it to." "So, you can control it?"

"Not exactly, but I can move us farther away from whatever’s causing it."

"So it’s coming from outside?"

"Exactly. We’re floating in a current of boiling water." "Seriously?" I exclaimed. "Take a look."

The panels slid open, and I saw the sea all around us, completely white. Sulphurous smoke was swirling above the waves, which were bubbling like water in a pot. I put my hand on one of the glass panes, but the heat was so intense I pulled it back instantly. "Where are we? I asked.

"Near the Island of Santorini, sir," replied the Captain. " I wanted to show you this crazy sight - a submarine eruption."

"I thought these new islands stopped forming," I said.

"Nothing ever really stops in the volcanic parts of the sea," replied Captain Nemo. " The Earth is always being worked on by underground fires."

Back in the nineteenth year of our era, according to Cassiodorus and Pliny, a new island, Theia (the divine), popped up right where these little islands have been forming recently. Then it sank back under the waves, only to rise again in sixty-nine, before disappearing again.

Since then, things have been quiet, until now. But on February third, eighteen sixty-six, a new island, which they named George Island, emerged from this sulfurous fog near Nea Kamenni, and then sank again six days later.

Seven days after that, on February thirteenth, the Island of Aphroessa appeared, leaving a canal ten yards wide between Nea Kamenni and itself. I was in these waters when it happened, so I got to see everything firsthand. The Island of Aphroessa was round, about three hundred feet across and thirty feet high.

"It was made of black, glassy lava mixed with bits of feldspar. And just recently, on March tenth, a smaller island, called Reka, showed up near Nea Kamenni, and since then these three have joined together to form one big island."

"And the canal we’re in right now?" I asked.

"Here’s a map," replied Captain Nemo, showing me the Archipelago.

"I’ve marked the new islands."

I went back to the glass. The Nautilus wasn’t moving anymore, and the heat was getting totally unbearable. The sea, which had been white, was now red, because of iron salts.

Even though the ship was sealed tight, this awful smell of sulfur filled the saloon, and the electricity was completely extinguished by bright red flames. I felt like I was in a bath, choking, and being roasted.

"We can’t stay in this boiling water any longer," I said to the Captain.

"That wouldn’t be wise," replied the impassive Captain Nemo.

"Let’s get out of here!" An order was given, and the Nautilus sharply turned and sped away from the furnace - we couldn’t risk staying there. About fifteen minutes later, we were finally breathing fresh air on the surface.

Then it hit me: if Ned Land had picked this spot for our escape, we’d never have made it out of this fiery ocean.

The next day, February sixteenth, we left the underwater basin - it’s about one,five hundred fathoms deep, somewhere between Rhodes and Alexandria - and the Nautilus, passing fairly close to Cerigo, left the Greek islands after rounding Cape Matapan.