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Another inconsistency

From: Ian Thompson <ithompson~at~ges.gla.ac.uk>
Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2006 22:30:32 +0100
To: "Jules Verne Forum" <jvf~at~Gilead.org.il>

Here is another one!
In le Rayon vert, the party travel from Glasgow to the Crinan Canal on the Columba and then through the canal on the Linnet. So far so good, but then Verne has them continue to Oban on the Glengarry. In fact the Glengarry was a very small ship, a mere 140 tons, which was used mainly on the Caledonian Canal because of this small size. Moreover, it could not safely have passed close to the Corryvreckan whirlpool to rescue Olivier Sinclair without considerable danger.
  The Crinan to Oban stage was sailed by a larger ship with restaurants aboard because of the long journey from Glasgow to Oban...approximately eleven hours.
However, the inconsistency arises from the fact that Verne had travelled this route himself in July 1879 and therefore was aware of the need for a large vessel to accommodate the summer crowds. He sailed on the Chevalier, over three times the size of the Glengarry and much faster as well as having first and second class restaurants. It was captained by Captain Maccallum, deputising for the regular captain, Captain Campbell who was ill. Verne travelled during the Glasgow Fair holidays and in fact there were more passengers than the little Linnet could transport through the Crinan Canal and so a track boat (a barge drawn by three horses) had to be added. This was the Sunbeam whose first trip on the canal had been to transport Queen Victoria in 1847.
So Verne was perfectly well aware from his own experience that a much larger, better equipped and faster steamer than the Glengarry would always serve the Crinan to Oban leg in the summer months.
When I first started researching Verne and Scotland, these little idiosycracies used to annoy me as a professional geographer. Now I find them intriguing..much like a cryptic crossword except that one has to go and find the clues for oneself rather than have them given.
Ian Thompson
Received on Thu 15 Jun 2006 - 00:28:17 IDT

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