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Les Forceurs de blocus

From: Ian Thompson <ithompson~at~geog.gla.ac.uk>
Date: Mon, 4 Oct 2004 10:30:57 +0100
To: "Jules Verne Forum" <jvf~at~Gilead.org.il>

I have mailed to Zvi today my most recent "Verne" map, which shows
Charleston Harbour at the time of the events in Les Forceurs de blocus. The
map is compiled from a variety of historical maps dated between 1863 and
1865. The date of the action in the novella is January 1863 and it was first
published in 1865. Christian Robin dates the ms as being 1864 (see his
Preface essay in the Séquences edition, 2000). Verne thus wrote the ms while
the Civil War was still at its height and in fact Charleston was finally
beseiged by the Union troops three months after the action in Les Forceurs.
Verne therefore must have researched the background of Charleston fairly
soon after the outbreak of war with the capture of Fort Sumter by the
Confederates. He clearly had access to printed accounts of the progress of
the war and to descriptions of Charleston and to detailed maritime
charts....it would be fascinating to know how and where he conducted such
rapid and thorough research. By 1860 there was an abundance of maps of the
South Carolina coastline and Verne must have had access to examples in
Paris.
As usual, Verne's account of the historical and geographical detail is
largely accurate. The main discrepancy is that Charleston lighthouse on
Morris Island, which guides the Delphin into the harbour, had been
deliberately destroyed by the Confederates in 1862 and Verne was obviously
unaware of this. In fact a light was placed in the tower of St Philip's
church to serve as a beacon within the Harbour ( the church mentioned by
Verne as striking 8pm as he awaits the rescued Halliburtt at White Point).
Having visited Charleston in July, it is still easy to reconstruct a mental
image of the novella. Much has changed....the wharves have been replaced by
a container port, much of the estuary shore has been reclaimed for
development and the citadel was relocated northwards many years ago. However
the forts remain and are much visited, especially Fort Sumter The main
change to the coastline is that the Delphin could no longer have escaped by
the Morris Island Channel, which has been largely infilled by natural
processes and by dumping of material dredged to improve access to the naval
base and the commercial port.
As usual, one is left to marvel how Verne dominated the factual basis of
both the Glasgow and Charleston settings of the story so rapidly after the
start of the Civil War, and incidentally, while simultaneously working on
the ms of Les Enfants du capitaine Grant.
Ian Thompson
Received on Mon 04 Oct 2004 - 11:31:05 IST

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