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- Жюль Верн
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20,000 leagues under the sea
The
year
1866
was
signalised
by
a
remarkable
incident
,
a
mysterious
and
puzzling
phenomenon
,
which
doubtless
no
one
has
yet
forgotten
.
Not
to
mention
rumours
which
agitated
the
maritime
population
and
excited
the
public
mind
,
even
in
the
interior
of
continents
,
seafaring
men
were
particularly
excited
.
Merchants
,
common
sailors
,
captains
of
vessels
,
skippers
,
both
of
Europe
and
America
,
naval
officers
of
all
countries
,
and
the
Governments
of
several
States
on
the
two
continents
,
were
deeply
interested
in
the
matter
.
For
some
time
past
vessels
had
been
met
by
"
an
enormous
thing
,
"
a
long
object
,
spindle-shaped
,
occasionally
phosphorescent
,
and
infinitely
larger
and
more
rapid
in
its
movements
than
a
whale
.
The
facts
relating
to
this
apparition
-LRB-
entered
in
various
log-books
-RRB-
agreed
in
most
respects
as
to
the
shape
of
the
object
or
creature
in
question
,
the
untiring
rapidity
of
its
movements
,
its
surprising
power
of
locomotion
,
and
the
peculiar
life
with
which
it
seemed
endowed
.
If
it
was
a
whale
,
it
surpassed
in
size
all
those
hitherto
classified
in
science
.
Taking
into
consideration
the
mean
of
observations
made
at
divers
times
--
rejecting
the
timid
estimate
of
those
who
assigned
to
this
object
a
length
of
two
hundred
feet
,
equally
with
the
exaggerated
opinions
which
set
it
down
as
a
mile
in
width
and
three
in
length
--
we
might
fairly
conclude
that
this
mysterious
being
surpassed
greatly
all
dimensions
admitted
by
the
learned
ones
of
the
day
,
if
it
existed
at
all
.
And
that
it
did
exist
was
an
undeniable
fact
;
and
,
with
that
tendency
which
disposes
the
human
mind
in
favour
of
the
marvellous
,
we
can
understand
the
excitement
produced
in
the
entire
world
by
this
supernatural
apparition
.
As
to
classing
it
in
the
list
of
fables
,
the
idea
was
out
of
the
question
.
On
the
20th
of
July
,
1866
,
the
steamer
Governor
Higginson
,
of
the
Calcutta
and
Burnach
Steam
Navigation
Company
,
had
met
this
moving
mass
five
miles
off
the
east
coast
of
Australia
.
Captain
Baker
thought
at
first
that
he
was
in
the
presence
of
an
unknown
sandbank
;
he
even
prepared
to
determine
its
exact
position
when
two
columns
of
water
,
projected
by
the
mysterious
object
,
shot
with
a
hissing
noise
a
hundred
and
fifty
feet
up
into
the
air
.
Now
,
unless
the
sandbank
had
been
submitted
to
the
intermittent
eruption
of
a
geyser
,
the
Governor
Higginson
had
to
do
neither
more
nor
less
than
with
an
aquatic
mammal
,
unknown
till
then
,
which
threw
up
from
its
blow-holes
columns
of
water
mixed
with
air
and
vapour
.
Similar
facts
were
observed
on
the
23rd
of
July
in
the
same
year
,
in
the
Pacific
Ocean
,
by
the
Columbus
,
of
the
West
India
and
Pacific
Steam
Navigation
Company
.
But
this
extraordinary
creature
could
transport
itself
from
one
place
to
another
with
surprising
velocity
;
as
,
in
an
interval
of
three
days
,
the
Governor
Higginson
and
the
Columbus
had
observed
it
at
two
different
points
of
the
chart
,
separated
by
a
distance
of
more
than
seven
hundred
nautical
leagues
.
Fifteen
days
later
,
two
thousand
miles
farther
off
,
the
Helvetia
,
of
the
Compagnie-Nationale
,
and
the
Shannon
,
of
the
Royal
Mail
Steamship
Company
,
sailing
to
windward
in
that
portion
of
the
Atlantic
lying
between
the
United
States
and
Europe
,
respectively
signalled
the
monster
to
each
other
in
42º
15
'
N.
lat
.
and
60º
35
'
W.
long
.
In
these
simultaneous
observations
they
thought
themselves
justified
in
estimating
the
minimum
length
of
the
mammal
at
more
than
three
hundred
and
fifty
feet
,
as
the
Shannon
and
Helvetia
were
of
smaller
dimensions
than
it
,
though
they
measured
three
hundred
feet
over
all
.
Now
the
largest
whales
,
those
which
frequent
those
parts
of
the
sea
round
the
Aleutian
,
Kulammak
,
and
Umgullich
islands
,
have
never
exceeded
the
length
of
sixty
yards
,
if
they
attain
that
.
In
every
place
of
great
resort
the
monster
was
the
fashion
.
They
sang
of
it
in
the
cafes
,
ridiculed
it
in
the
papers
,
and
represented
it
on
the
stage
.
All
kinds
of
stories
were
circulated
regarding
it
.
There
appeared
in
the
papers
caricatures
of
every
gigantic
and
imaginary
creature
,
from
the
white
whale
,
the
terrible
"
Moby
Dick
"
of
sub-arctic
regions
,
to
the
immense
kraken
,
whose
tentacles
could
entangle
a
ship
of
five
hundred
tons
and
hurry
it
into
the
abyss
of
the
ocean
.
The
legends
of
ancient
times
were
even
revived
.
Then
burst
forth
the
unending
argument
between
the
believers
and
the
unbelievers
in
the
societies
of
the
wise
and
the
scientific
journals
.
"
The
question
of
the
monster
"
inflamed
all
minds
.
Editors
of
scientific
journals
,
quarrelling
with
believers
in
the
supernatural
,
spilled
seas
of
ink
during
this
memorable
campaign
,
some
even
drawing
blood
;
for
from
the
sea-serpent
they
came
to
direct
personalities
.
During
the
first
months
of
the
year
1867
the
question
seemed
buried
,
never
to
revive
,
when
new
facts
were
brought
before
the
public
.
It
was
then
no
longer
a
scientific
problem
to
be
solved
,
but
a
real
danger
seriously
to
be
avoided
.
The
question
took
quite
another
shape
.
The
monster
became
a
small
island
,
a
rock
,
a
reef
,
but
a
reef
of
indefinite
and
shifting
proportions
.
