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[Illustration: caption].
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The Table of Contents was added by the transcriber.
[Illustration: ONE WOULD HAVE TAKEN HER FOR A SMALL ISLAND.]
UNIFORM EDITION
———
A FLOATING CITY
AND
THE BLOCKADE RUNNERS
BY
JULES VERNE
ILLUSTRATED
NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS
1904
Table of contents.
PAGE
Part 1: A Floating City
Chapter I. 1
Chapter II. 6
Chapter III. 14
Chapter IV. 20
Chapter V. 24
Chapter VI. 28
Chapter VII. 35
Chapter VIII. 39
Chapter IX. 47
Chapter X. 52
Chapter XI. 62
Chapter XII. 65
Chapter XIII. 71
Chapter XIV. 75
Chapter XV. 78
Chapter XVI. 81
Chapter XVII. 87
Chapter XVIII. 90
Chapter XIX. 94
Chapter XX. 99
Chapter XXI. 104
Chapter XXII. 109
Chapter XXIII. 115
Chapter XXIV. 118
Chapter XXV. 124
Chapter XXVI. 129
Chapter XXVII. 133
Chapter XXVIII. 136
Chapter XXIX. 140
Chapter XXX. 145
Chapter XXXI. 148
Chapter XXXII. 152
Chapter XXXIII. 157
Chapter XXXIV. 164
Chapter XXXV. 168
Chapter XXXVI. 172
Chapter XXXVII. 177
Chapter XXXVIII. 185
Chapter XXXIX. 193
Part 2: The Blockade Runners 197
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
One would have taken her for a small Island Frontispiece
Carpentering, Rigging, and Painting 6
Then began the slow interminable Ascent 17
Every Man at the capstan-bars was knocked down 22
Soon we came in sight of Queenstown 29
Captain Corsican and I bowed 30
When a body rolled at my feet 40
The waif was the hull of a ship 49
“They,” said he, “are people from the Far West” 56
I often see them leaning over the railings of the 61
engine-rooms
He made an angry gesture, which I arrested 68
“I see,” said Dr. Pitferge 76
A fine-looking young fellow 85
His back rounded, and his head muffled in a hood 91
The Black Lady 96
He treated Drake with supreme contempt 108
Fabian went near to the cabin doors 113
One of the sailors lying unconscious 122
A troop of Minstrels 130
“Do you accept that blow?” 132
The Prayer for the Dead 147
I remained on deck, watching the storm rise 152
A small schooner was signalled to starboard 153
I turned, and saw Ellen, pale as death 162
The fog cleared off 174
Nature has combined everything to astonish the eye 179
The Cataract falling before us 187
“Fabian! Fabian!” cried she, at last 191
She plunged into the Clyde 199
“The same,” replied the Skipper 208
And soon disappeared 213
“Captain!” exclaimed he 220
Thank you, sir, thank you 232
He saw distinctly 235
The Squall 244
Crockston was examining the horizon attentively 246
Miss Halliburtt was standing on the poop 251
“I promise you, Miss Jenny” 260
Mr. Halliburtt? 271
Jenny fell into her father’s arms 275
He took the shell 282
“Well, Uncle Vincent” 286
A FLOATING CITY.
-------
CHAPTER I.
On the 18th of March, 1867, I arrived at Liverpool, intending to take a
berth simply as an amateur traveller on board the “Great Eastern,” which
in a few days was to sail for New York. I had sometimes thought of
paying a visit to North America, and was now tempted to cross the
Atlantic on board this gigantic boat. First of all the “Great Eastern,”
then the country celebrated by Cooper.
This steam-ship is indeed a masterpiece of naval construction; more than
a vessel, it is a floating city, part of the country, detached from
English soil, which after having crossed the sea, unites itself to the
American Continent. I pictured to myself this enormous bulk borne on the
waves, her defiant struggle with the wind, her boldness before the
powerless sea, her indifference to the billows, her stability in the
midst of that element which tosses “Warriors” and “Solferinos” like
ship’s boats. But my imagination carried me no farther; all these things
I did indeed see during the passage, and many others which do not
exclusively belong to the maritime domain. If the “Great Eastern” is not
merely a nautical engine, but rather a microcosm, and carries a small
world with it, an observer will not be astonished to meet here, as on a
larger theatre, all the instincts, follies, and passions of human
nature.
On leaving the station, I went to the Adelphi Hotel. The “Great Eastern”
was announced to sail on the 20th of March, and as I wished to witness
the last preparations, I asked permission of Captain Anderson, the
commander, to take my place on board immediately, which permission he
very obligingly granted.
The next day I went down towards the basins which form a double line of
docks on the banks of the Mersey. The gate-keepers allowed me to go on
to Prince’s Landing-Stage, a kind of movable raft which rises and falls
with the tide, and is a landing place for the numerous boats which run
between Liverpool, and the opposite town of Birkenhead on the left bank
of the Mersey.
The Mersey, like the Thames, is only an insignificant stream, unworthy
the name of river, although it falls into the sea.
It is an immense depression of the land filled with water, in fact
nothing more than a hole, the depth of which allows it to receive ships
of the heaviest tonnage, such as the “Great Eastern,” to which almost
every other port in the world is closed. Thanks to this natural
condition, the streams of the Thames and the Mersey have seen two
immense commercial cities, London and Liverpool, built almost at their
mouths, and from a similar cause has Glasgow arisen on the Clyde.
At Prince’s Landing-Stage, a small tug in the service of the “Great
Eastern” was getting up steam. I went on board and found it already
crowded with workmen and mechanics. As the clock in Victoria Tower
struck seven, the tender left her moorings and quickly ascended the
Mersey with the rising tide.
Scarcely had we started, when I saw on the quay a tall young man, with
that aristocratic look which so distinguishes the English officer. I
thought I recognized in him a friend whom I had not seen for several
years, a captain in the Indian army; but I must have been mistaken, for
Captain Mac Elwin could not have left Bombay, as I ought to have known,
besides Mac Elwin was a gay, careless fellow, and a jovial companion,
but this person, if he resembled him in feature, seemed melancholy, and
as though burdened with a secret grief. Be it as it may, I had not time
to observe him more closely, for the tender was moving rapidly away, and
the impression founded on this resemblance soon vanished from my mind.
The “Great Eastern” was anchored about three miles up the river, at a
depth equal to the height of the tallest houses in Liverpool. She was
not to be seen from Prince’s Stage, but I caught a glimpse of her
imposing bulk from the first bend in the river.
One would have taken her for a small island, hardly discernible in the
mist. She appeared with her bows towards us, having swung round with the
tide; but soon the tender altered her course, and the whole length of
the steam-ship was presented to our view; she seemed what in fact she
was—enormous! Three or four colliers alongside were pouring their
cargoes of coal into her port-holes. Beside the “Great Eastern,” these
three-mast ships looked like barges; their chimneys did not even reach
the first line of light-ports in her hull; the yards of their
gallant-sails did not come up to her bulwarks. The giant could have
hoisted these ships on its davits like shore-boats.
Meanwhile the tender approached the “Great Eastern,” whose chains were
violently strained by the pressure of the tide, and ranged up to the
foot of an immense winding staircase, on the larboard side. In this
position the deck of the tender was only on a level with the load
water-line of the steam-ship, to which line she would be depressed when
in full cargo, and which still emerged two yards.
The workmen were now hurriedly disembarking and clambering up the
numerous steps which terminated at the fore-part of the ship. I, with
head upturned, and my body thrown back, surveyed the wheels of the
“Great Eastern,” like a tourist looking up at a high edifice.
Seen from the side, these wheels looked narrow and contracted, although
their paddles were four yards broad, but in front they had a monumental
aspect. Their elegant fittings, the arrangements of the whole plan, the
stays crossing each other to support the division of the triple centre
rim, the radius of red spokes, the machinery half lost in the shadow of
the wide paddle-boards, all this impressed the mind, and awakened an
idea of some gigantic and mysterious power.
With what force must these wooden paddles strike the waves which are now
gently breaking over them! what a boiling of water when this powerful
engine strikes it blow after blow! what a thundering noise engulfed in
this paddle-box cavern! when the “Great Eastern” goes at full speed,
under the pressure of wheels measuring fifty-three feet in diameter and
166 in circumference, weighing ninety tons, and making eleven
revolutions a minute. The tender had disembarked her crew; I stepped on
to the fluted iron steps, and in a few minutes had crossed the fore-part
of the “Great Eastern.”