Jules Verne Forum

<jvf@Gilead.org.il>

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec 199619971998199920002001200220032004200520062007200820092010

[Le Blog Personnel de Professeur Aronnax] March 1st 1868

From: Harry Hayfield <harryhayfield~at~googlemail.com>
Date: Thu, 3 Jun 2010 05:58:58 -0700 (PDT)
To: jvf~at~gilead.org.il

To say that the Captain has an interesting sense of direction would be
an understatement. Since I last wrote, we have (in effect) gone nowhere
fast. I last wrote whilst we were to the south of the Canary Islands,
and today we are still (having first arrived here on February 23rd) in
the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. And what's been happening during this
time, well, in simple terms nothing apart from every now and again the
sound of his organ (and from what I have heard he's a very good
player). Still, all this lack of movement has given me plenty of time
to figure out how on earth Atlantis is now under the seas and thanks to
the vast collection of books the Captain has in his library (and a
little guesswork I grant you) I think I know what may have happened.

As we know, Atlantis was quite the empire and was still going strong
more than a millenia before the time of Plato (so about 3,000 years ago
or so) exporting items to the known world as well as importing things
as well. However, during that time there had been a large number of
earth tremors that affected the city. Nothing massive of course, just
annoying ones that happen almost like clockwork such as the ones
experienced in Iceland and Italy, then after these tiny earthquakes
there was a massive one (about the same magnitude as struck Lisbon only
a century ago). Now, whilst that didn't destroy the city, it certainly
created a lot of damage, and so naturally enough the Atleanteans
evacuated the city and set up several camps in the surrounding areas
and that's what led to the problems. About six to eight months after
that earthquake, there was a massive volcanic eruption nearby (possibly
one of the volcanoes on the Canary Islands itself). Now, this wasn't
your normal eruption (such as the Laki eruption in Iceland last
century) oh no, this was massive. If I am reading these books
correctly, this eruption tore apart the island that it was located on
and dropped about 80% of the land mass into the water generating what
is called a tidal wave (or as my colleagues in Japan would call it a
tsunami). Now these tidal waves are reknowned for their devasation and
Atlantis being so close to the volcano did not stand a chance. The box
of tricks I have here has been estimating how high the waves would have
been and it estimates at least 80 feet tall and able to travel as much
as 8 miles inland and when you are an island empire, that sort of wave
can only result in one thing and that one thing is what I saw on the
sea bed three weeks ago. Complete and utter devastation.

Now, when something like that happens, it's only natural that people
talk about it which is why Plato recorded it when he did and how
legends have grown up around the island ever since. All those people
just wiped out in an instant though, it makes me shiver that this
planet that we assume is so gentle and peace loving is actually a
violent monster. I hope that we don't encounter any more of Mother
Earth's moods on this journey, the idea of being caught underwater in
one of those waves fills me with absolute dread.

--
Posted By Harry Hayfield to Le Blog Personnel de Professeur Aronnax on
6/03/2010 01:58:00 PM

Received on Thu 03 Jun 2010 - 15:59:09 IDT

JV.Gilead.org.il
Copyright © Zvi Har’El
$Date: 2010/06/04 01:00:03 $$