Other editions of book 20, 000 Leagues Under the Sea

During the year 1866, ships of several nations spot a mysterious sea monster, which some suggest to be a giant narwhal. The United States government assembles an expedition in New York City to find and destroy the monster. Professor Pierre Aronnax, a French marine biologist and narrator of the story, who happens to be in New York at the time, receives a last-minute invitation to join the expedition which he accepts. Canadian whaler and master harpoonist Ned Land and Aronnax's faithful servant Conseil are also brought aboard.

Retold by author Noe Venable. A professor of marine studies, his self-effacing young assistant, and a Canadian harpooner join an expedition to investigate a monster that has been terrorizing the world. When the ship finally runs into the “monster”, these three very different men are thrown overboard, only to be rescued and then taken prisoner by the very monster they’ve been chasing. The “monster” turns out to be a submarine called the Nautilus, and its captain and creator is Captain Nemo, an eccentric, troubled genius. At first, the professor is happy to give up his freedom in exchange for the wonderful spectacles that the ocean affords him — spectacles that until now he has only been able to read about and imagine. However, as Captain Nemo starts to unravel, the professor comes face to face with a darkness so intense that he rediscovers his own humanity and is finally able to value his life over his research. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is a timeless adventure story that is equal parts humor, horror and mystery. Please Note: Start-to-Finish computer CDs are NOT compatible with Mac-OS 10.7 or 10.8.

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea is a classic science fiction novel by French writer Jules Verne published in 1870. The novel was originally serialized from March 1869 through June 1870 in Pierre-Jules Hetzel's periodical, the Magasin d'Éducation et de Récréation. The deluxe illustrated edition, published by Hetzel in November 1871, included 111 illustrations by Alphonse de Neuville and Édouard Riou. The book was highly acclaimed when released and still is now; it is regarded as one of the premiere adventure novels and one of Verne's greatest works, along with Around the World in Eighty Days and Journey to the Center of the Earth. The description of Nemo's ship, called the Nautilus, was considered ahead of its time, as it accurately describes features on submarines, which at the time were very primitive vessels. Thus, the book has been able to age well because of its scientific theories, unlike some of Verne's other works, like Journey to the Center of the Earth, which are not scientifically accurate and serve more simply as adventure novels.

During the year 1866, ships of several nations spot a mysterious sea monster, which some suggest to be a giant narwhal. The United States government assembles an expedition in New York City to find and destroy the monster. Professor Pierre Aronnax, a French marine biologist and narrator of the story, who happens to be in New York at the time, receives a last-minute invitation to join the expedition which he accepts. Canadian whaler and master harpoonist Ned Land and Aronnax's faithful servant Conseil are also brought aboard. The expedition departs Brooklyn aboard the United States Navy frigate Abraham Lincoln and travels south around Cape Horn into the Pacific Ocean. The ship finds the monster after a long search and then attacks the beast, which damages the ship's rudder. The three protagonists are then hurled into the water and grasp hold of the "hide" of the creature, which they find, to their surprise, to be a submarine very far ahead of its era. They are quickly captured and brought inside the vessel, where they meet its enigmatic creator and commander, Captain Nemo. The rest of the story follows the adventures of the protagonists aboard the creature—the submarine, the Nautilus—which was built in secrecy and now roams the seas free from any land-based government. Captain Nemo's motivation is implied to be both a scientific thirst for knowledge and a desire for revenge upon (and self-imposed exile from) civilization. Nemo explains that his submarine is electrically powered and can perform advanced marine biology research; he also tells his new passengers that although he appreciates conversing with such an expert as Aronnax, maintaining the secrecy of his existence requires never letting them leave. Aronnax and Conseil are enthralled by the undersea adventures, but Ned Land can only think of escape. They visit many places under the ocean, some real-world and others fictional. The travelers witness the real corals of the Red Sea, the wrecks of the battle of Vigo Bay, the Antarctic ice shelves, the Transatlantic telegraph cable and the legendary submerged land of Atlantis. The travelers also use diving suits to hunt sharks and other marine life with air-guns and have an underwater funeral for a crew member who died when an accident occurred under mysterious conditions inside the Nautilus. When the Nautilus returns to the Atlantic Ocean, a pack of "poulpes" (usually translated as a giant squid, although in French "poulpe" means "octopus") attacks the vessel and kills a crew member. Throughout the story Captain Nemo is suggested to have exiled himself from the world after an encounter with the forces that occupied his country that had devastating effects on his family. Not long after the incident of the poulpes, Nemo suddenly changes his behavior toward Aronnax, avoiding him. Aronnax no longer feels the same and begins to sympathize with Ned Land. Near the end of the book, the Nautilus is attacked by a warship of some nation that had made Nemo suffer. Filled with hatred and revenge, Nemo ignores Aronnax's pleas for mercy. Nemo—nicknamed "angel of hatred" by Aronnax—destroys the ship, ramming it just below the waterline, and consequently sinking it into the bottom of the sea, much to Aronnax's horror, as he watches the ship plunge into the abyss. Nemo bows before the pictures of his wife and children and is plunged into deep depression after this encounter. For several days after this, the protagonists' situation changes. No one seems to be on board any longer and the Nautilus moves about randomly. CC-BY-SA 3.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty_Thousand_Leagues_Under_the_Sea

Jules Verne's classic science fiction story Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea tells the great tale of Captain Nemo and his submarine Nautilus. In 1866 a strange and unknown sea monster is sighted by ships and an ocean liner is attacked. An expedition prepares in New York, to find and destroy the menacing creature. The 20,000 of the title refers to an overall distance traveled under the sea, rather than an impossible measure of descent.