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[Le Blog Personnel de Professeur Aronnax] November 17th 1867

From: Harry Hayfield <harryhayfield~at~googlemail.com>
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 2010 15:42:37 -0800 (PST)
To: jvf~at~gilead.org.il

To say I am overawed by this machine would be an understatement. I feel
like I've been let loose in a toy factory to be honest. Today we were
invited to attend a hunt at Crespo Island (which I have marked on the
map I found a few days ago) although I have to admit, I couldn't
actually find it. When I asked where it was, I got a very strange
answer:

"It is to use the Rouquayrol apparatus, invented by two of your own
countrymen, which I have brought to perfection for my own use, and
which will allow you to risk yourself under these new physiological
conditions without any organ whatever suffering. It consists of a
reservoir of thick iron plates, in which I store the air under a
pressure of fifty atmospheres. This reservoir is fixed on the back by
means of braces, like a soldier’s knapsack. Its upper part forms a box
in which the air is kept by means of a bellows, and therefore cannot
escape unless at its normal tension. In the Rouquayrol apparatus such
as we use, two india rubber pipes leave this box and join a sort of
tent which holds the nose and mouth; one is to introduce fresh air, the
other to let out the foul, and the tongue closes one or the other
according to the wants of the respirator. But I, in encountering great
pressures at the bottom of the sea, was obliged to shut my head, like
that of a diver in a ball of copper; and it is to this ball of copper
that the two pipes, the inspirator and the expirator, open!"

In other words, Crespo Island was undersea and we would be one of the
first people to see it up close. At the Captain’s call two of the
ship’s crew came to help us dress in these heavy and impervious
clothes, made of india-rubber without seam, and constructed expressly
to resist considerable pressure. One would have thought it a suit of
armour, both supple and resisting. This suit formed trousers and
waistcoat. The trousers were finished off with thick boots, weighted
with heavy leaden soles. The texture of the waistcoat was held together
by bands of copper, which crossed the chest, protecting it from the
great pressure of the water, and leaving the lungs free to act; the
sleeves ended in gloves, which in no way restrained the movement of the
hands. There was a vast difference noticeable between these consummate
apparatuses and the old cork breastplates, jackets, and other
contrivances in vogue during the eighteenth century and it was not that
easy to put on. Indeed one of the Captain's men (who I thought looked a
bit like Hercules) was huffing and puffing by the time he'd finished
getting us in.

So when it came to walking, well that was simply impossible, so myself,
Conseil and the Captain were pushed into another room. Just as I was
about to ask what the point of that was, I got my answer. After some
minutes, a loud hissing was heard. I felt the cold mount from my feet
to my chest. Evidently from some part of the vessel they had, by means
of a tap, given entrance to the water, which was invading us, and with
which the room was soon filled. A second door cut in the side of the
Nautilus then opened. We saw a faint light. In another instant our feet
trod the bottom of the sea.

We were making history. The first people to walk beneath the sea. And
what did we see? Various kinds of isis, clusters of pure tuft-coral,
prickly fungi, and anemones formed a brilliant garden of flowers,
decked with their collarettes of blue tentacles, sea-stars studding the
sandy bottom. It was a real grief to me to crush under my feet the
brilliant specimens of molluscs which strewed the ground by thousands,
of hammerheads, donaciae (veritable bounding shells), of staircases,
and red helmet-shells, angel-wings, and many others produced by this
inexhaustible ocean. To put it into laymen's terms, it was wonderful.

And that's wasn't even the best bit. Oh, no, that was reserved for the
forest itself. This forest was composed of large tree-plants; and the
moment we penetrated under its vast arcades, I was struck by the
singular position of their branches—a position I had not yet observed.
Not an herb which carpeted the ground, not a branch which clothed the
trees, was either broken or bent, nor did they extend horizontally; all
stretched up to the surface of the ocean. Not a filament, not a ribbon,
however thin they might be, but kept as straight as a rod of iron. The
fuci and llianas grew in rigid perpendicular lines, due to the density
of the element which had produced them. Motionless yet, when bent to
one side by the hand, they directly resumed their former position.
Truly it was the region of perpendicularity.

After about four hours of walking, I was feeling very tired indeed. I
have since learnt that this is quite normal and so I settled down to
have a sleep (underneath the sea!). I woke up some time later and got a
very nasty suprise. as an unexpected apparition brought me briskly to
my feet. A few steps off, a monstrous sea-spider, about thirty-eight
inches high, was watching me with squinting eyes, ready to spring upon
me. Though my diver’s dress was thick enough to defend me from the bite
of this animal, I could not help shuddering with horror. Conseil and
the sailor of the Nautilus awoke at this moment. Captain Nemo pointed
out the hideous crustacean, which a blow from the butt end of the gun
knocked over, and I saw the horrible claws of the monster writhe in
terrible convulsions which came as a huge relief.

Add to that being able to pick off an albatross from underneath the sea
and you can see now why I am yawning my head off back on board the
Nautlius. If this is an example of life on board I can't wait for the
next trip!

--
Posted By Harry Hayfield to Le Blog Personnel de Professeur Aronnax on
1/08/2010 11:17:00 PM

Received on Sat 09 Jan 2010 - 01:42:44 IST

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