A century and a half ago, Jules Verne achieved great success with his novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. The story features the mysterious Captain Nemo, an avenger in command of his own submarine. In letters to his publisher, the French writer described Captain Nemo as “a Polish aristocrat whose friends are dying in Siberia and whose nation is disappearing from Europe under the tyranny of Russia”. In the end, he had to modify his concept for commercial reasons, as a book containing this plotline would have been boycotted by Russian readers. But what would Verne’s novel have looked like had he stuck to his original idea?
Part I: The secret of the armour-plated narwhal
November 1867. French marine biologist Professor Pierre Aronnax and Canadian harpooner Ned Land are tracking a monster in the Pacific Ocean – the giant narwhal, which has been attacking local ships, makes the white sperm whale from Moby Dick look like small fry. They are suitably prepared with harpoon cannons, as well as a gun that fires 10-pound missiles over distances of several miles.
However, this gets them nowhere against the monster, which turns out to be not a living creature, but an armoured submarine! Aronnax and Land’s ship sinks to the bottom of the sea, and they, like Jonah, end up in the belly of the sea monster. There they are greeted by a well-groomed, bearded, middle-aged man who looks more like an aristocrat than a sea dog. He invites them on a coerced but comfortable journey, having introduced himself as Captain Nemo. Nemo: ‘nobody’.
Who is he? Why did he sink their ship, and others before it? The captain doesn’t want to talk about it. A visit to his salon, however, raises suspicions. His collection of etchings presents a series of heroes who fought against tyranny: the Greek Botsaris, the Polish Kościuszko, the Irish O’Connell, the Italian Manin, not to mention the Americans Washington, Lincoln and Brown. The presence of these Americans in particular, two of whom fought for the liberation of slaves, leads Aronnax to believe that he is dealing with a Yankee.
“Maybe he fought in the recent Civil War?” he says to his companion-in-misery Land, whose reticence makes him an excellent listener.
“Then why is he still fighting? The war’s over,” responds Land, dampening the French professor’s enthusiasm.
So maybe the key to the mystery of Captain Nemo is the name of
