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Jules Verne and Ireland

From: Ian Thompson <ian.thompson~at~ges.gla.ac.uk>
Date: Fri, 05 Mar 2010 18:56:13 +0000
To: Jules Verne Forum <jvf~at~gilead.org.il>

Dear Vernians,
Having been away in Paris on consultancy work for the last few days I
have only just read the interesting correspondence on Verne and Ireland.
I can report a similar experience to that of Verne. In the autumn of
1957, I sailed to New York on the Cunarder "Mauretania" to take up a
research post in Indiana. The Mauretania was twice the tonnage of the
Great Eastern but after sailing from Southampton we also called in at
Cobh (formerly known as Queenstown) the deep water seaport for nearby
Cork. Here we anchored to take on passengers from a tender (they
consisted almost entirely of nuns and priests bound for the States!) As
indicated by Bill in the case of Verne's crossing, no passengers
disembarked, entirely to be expected as a transatlantic liner would not
be appropriate as compared with the short crossing Irish Sea ferries.
The parallel with the Great Eastern continued the next day when the
Mauretania was hit by a terrific storm originating from the East Coast
of the States. Being blessed with good "sea legs" I was the only
passenger at my table of twelve persons to enjoy a cooked breakfast each
morning. Nevertheless, the cinema defeated me, the screen moving in all
directions vertically and horizontally! Fortunately, the return journey
a year later, this time from Montreal to Liverpool,via the north coast
of Ireland, was blessed with placid seas.
The only relevant Vernian points that emerge from my transatlantic
crossing are that given the severity of conditions aboard the
Mauretania, those experienced by the Great Eastern, a vessel only half
the size, must have been horrendous. Secondly, as the anchorage off
Queenstown was in daylight, like Verne I had a view of the Irish
coastline for a few hours but no more but,also like Verne, never set
foot in Ireland.
Ian Thompson
Received on Fri 05 Mar 2010 - 20:56:17 IST

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