Description

The Nautilus was designed and commanded by Captain Nemo. Electricity provided by sodium/mercury batteries (with the sodium provided by extraction from seawater) was the craft's primary power source for propulsion and other services.

The Nautilus was double hulled, and was further separated into water-tight compartments. Its top speed was 50 knots. Its displacement was 1356.48 French freight tons immerged (1507 submerged). In Captain Nemo's own words:

The Nautilus used floodable tanks in order to adjust buoyancy and so control its depth. The pumps that evacuate these tanks of water were so powerful that they produced large jets of water when the vessel emerged rapidly from the surface of the water. This led many early observers of the Nautilus to believe that the vessel was some species of whale, or perhaps a sea monster not yet known to science. When needed to submerge deeply in short time, Nautilus uses a technique called Hydroplaning which makes the vessel dive down in warped angles, as found from the talks of Captain Nemo.

The Nautilus supported a crew who gathered or farmed food from the sea to eat. The Nautilus included a galley for preparing these foods, which included a machine that makes drinking water from seawater through distillation. The Nautilus was not able to refresh its air supply except by surfacing and exchanging stale air for fresh. The Nautilus was capable of extended voyages without refuelling or otherwise restocking supplies. Its maximum dive time was around five days.

Much of the ship was decorated to standards of luxury that were unequalled in a seagoing vessel of the time. These included a library with boxed collections of valuable oceanic specimens that were unknown to science at the time. The Nautilus also featured a lavish dining room and even an organ that Captain Nemo used to entertain himself in the evening. By comparison, Nemo's personal quarters were very sparsely furnished, but did feature duplicates of the bridge instruments, so that the captain could keep track of the vessel without being present on the bridge.

From her attacks on ships, using a ramming prow to puncture target vessels below the waterline, the world thought it a sea monster.

Its parts were built to order in Le Creusot, London, Liverpool, Glasgow, Paris, Prussia (Krupp), Motala (Sweden), New York, etc. Then the pieces were assembled by Nemo's men on a deserted island.

Appearances

• the comic book The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (and its film adaptation). In the graphic novel, the Nautilus has tentacles that rest along the sides, which can be used to grab objects (such as falling members of the League). In the film, the Nautilus lacks the tentacles, but is much larger, has escape pods and is solar powered ("The solar panels are fully charged; we are about to dive").
• The Japanese anime The Secret of Blue Water, by Gainax.
• Valhalla Rising, a novel by Clive Cussler

See also

• Ships named Nautilus
• Nautilus, a mollusc

External links

• Verne's Nautilus. Models and speculation from the book data.
• A Catalog of Nautilus Designs. Enumeration of the principle designs of the Nautilus

Images

Fictional submarines | Ships named Nautilus

Nautilus (Jules Verne) | Nautilus (Jules Verne) | Nautilus (onderzeeboot) | ノーチラス号 | Nautilus