The Voyages and Adventures of Captain Hatteras Part 1

The Voyages and Adventures of Captain Hatteras.

by Jules Verne.

PART I.

THE ENGLISH AT THE NORTH POLE.

[Ill.u.s.tration: AVENTURES DU CAPITAINE HATTERAS]

CHAPTER I.

THE FORWARD.

"To-morrow, at the turn of the tide, the brig _Forward_, K. Z., captain, Richard Shandon, mate, will clear from New Prince's Docks; destination unknown."

This announcement appeared in the _Liverpool Herald_ of April 5, 1860.

The sailing of a brig is not a matter of great importance for the chief commercial city of England. Who would take notice of it in so great a throng of s.h.i.+ps of all sizes and of every country, that dry-docks covering two leagues scarcely contain them?

Nevertheless, from early morning on the 6th of April, a large crowd collected on the quays of the New Prince's Docks; all the sailors of the place seemed to have a.s.sembled there. The workingmen of the neighboring wharves had abandoned their tasks, tradesmen had left their gloomy shops, and the merchants their empty warehouses. The many-colored omnibuses which pa.s.s outside of the docks were discharging, every minute, their load of sight-seers; the whole city seemed to care for nothing except watching the departure of the _Forward_.

The _Forward_ was a vessel of one hundred and seventy tons, rigged as a brig, and carrying a screw and a steam-engine of one hundred and twenty horse-power. One would have very easily confounded it with the other brigs in the harbor. But if it presented no especial difference to the eye of the public, yet those who were familiar with s.h.i.+ps noticed certain peculiarities which could not escape a sailor's keen glance.

Thus, on the _Nautilus_, which was lying at anchor near her, a group of sailors were trying to make out the probable destination of the _Forward_.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

"What do you say to her masts?" said one; "steamers don't usually carry so much sail."

"It must be," answered a red-faced quartermaster, "that she relies more on her sails than on her engine; and if her topsails are of that size, it's probably because the lower sails are to be laid back. So I'm sure the _Forward_ is going either to the Arctic or Antarctic Ocean, where the icebergs stop the wind more than suits a solid s.h.i.+p."

"You must be right, Mr. Cornhill," said a third sailor. "Do you notice how straight her stem is?"

"Besides," said Mr. Cornhill, "she carries a steel ram forward, as sharp as a razor; if the _Forward_, going at full speed, should run into a three-decker, she would cut her in two."

"That's true," answered a Mersey pilot, "for that brig can easily run fourteen knots under steam. She was a sight to see on her trial trip.

On my word, she's a swift boat."

"And she goes well, too, under sail," continued the quartermaster; "close to the wind, and she's easily steered. Now that s.h.i.+p is going to the polar seas, or my name is not Cornhill. And then, see there! Do you notice that large helm-port over the head of her rudder?"

"That's so," said some of the sailors; "but what does that prove?"

"That proves, my men," replied the quartermaster with a scornful smile, "that you can neither see nor think; it proves that they wanted to leave the head of the rudder free, so that it might be uns.h.i.+pped and s.h.i.+pped again easily. Don't you know that's what they have to do very often in the ice?"

"You are right," answered the sailors of the _Nautilus_.

"And besides," said one, "the lading of the brig goes to prove what Mr. Cornhill has said. I heard it from Clifton, who has s.h.i.+pped on her. The _Forward_ carries provisions for five or six years, and coal in proportion. Coal and provisions are all she carries, and a quant.i.ty of woollen and sealskin clothing."

"Well," said Mr. Cornhill, "there's no doubt about it. But, my friend, since you know Clifton, hasn't he told you where she's bound?"

"He couldn't tell me, for he didn't know; the whole crew was s.h.i.+pped in that way. Where is he going? He won't know till he gets there."

"Nor yet if they are going to Davy Jones's locker," said one scoffer, "as it seems to me they are."

"But then, their pay," continued the friend of Clifton enthusiastically,--"their pay! it's five times what a sailor usually gets. If it had not been for that, Richard Shandon would not have got a man. A strangely shaped boat, going no one knows where, and as if it never intended coming back! As for me, I should not have cared to s.h.i.+p in her."

"Whether you would or not," answered Mr. Cornhill, "you could never have s.h.i.+pped in the _Forward_."

"Why not?"

"Because you would not have answered the conditions. I heard that married men were not taken. Now you belong to that cla.s.s. So you need not say what you would or would not do, since it's all breath thrown away."

The sailor who was thus snubbed burst out laughing, as did his companions, showing in this way that Mr. Cornhill's remarks were true.

"There's nothing but boldness about the s.h.i.+p," continued Cornhill, well pleased with himself. "The _Forward_,--forward to what? Without saying that n.o.body knows who her captain is."

"O, yes, they do!" said a young sailor, evidently a green-hand.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

"What! They do know?"

"Of course."

"My young friend," said Cornhill, "do you think Shandon is the captain of the _Forward_?"

"Why--" answered the boy.

"Shandon is only the mate, nothing else; he's a good and brave sailor, an old whaler, a good fellow, able to take command, but he's not the captain; he's no more captain than you or I. And who, under G.o.d, is going to have charge of the s.h.i.+p, he does not know in the least. At the proper time the captain will come aboard, I don't know how, and I don't know where; for Richard Shandon didn't tell me, nor has he leave to tell me in what direction he was first to sail."

"Still, Mr. Cornhill," said the young sailor, "I can tell you that there's some one on board, some one who was spoken of in the letter in which Mr. Shandon was offered the place of mate."

"What!" answered Cornhill, "do you mean to tell me that the _Forward_ has a captain on board?"

"Yes, Mr. Cornhill."

"You tell me that?"

"Certainly, for I heard it from Johnson, the boatswain."

"Boatswain Johnson?"

"Yes, he told me himself."

"Johnson told you?"