In Brief: When a mysterious sea monster causes accidents on the high seas, a French professor named Aronnax joins an American expedition to seek it out. Aronnax, his manservant Conseil and the Canadian harpoonist Ned Land inadvertently find themselves prisoners onboard an advanced metal submersible (the Nautilus, a submarine) and taken on a tour of the deep seas. On the way, the mysterious Captain Nemo engages in some secret activities which troubles Aronnax’s conscience. The Nautilus and its guests encounter various dangers (cannibals, giant squids, avalanches in the South Pole). Back in the north, the Nautilus comes under fire by a frigate. After the Nautilus destroys it and it’s hapless crew, Aronnax and his friends hatch a plan to escape the obsessed and dangerous Captain Nemo. When the Nautilus is caught in a giant whirlpool, Aronnax and his friends escape in the Nautilus’ detachable skiff.
FIRST PART
CHAPTER 1: A Runaway Reef
In 1866, several ships encounter (and run afoul of) a mobile, glowing underwater object, initially thought to be an uncharted reef, but later characterized as a sea monster. The following year, a cruise ship of the famous Cunard line (the Scotia) is damaged by an underwater attack, leaving an unnaturally clean hole in its hull. The public begins demanding that the monster be destroyed.
CHAPTER 2: The Pros and Cons
An Assistant Professor at the Paris Museum of Natural History named Aronnax theorizes that the sea monster could only be a giant narwhale, since no country would be able to create a man-made vehicle with such advanced abilities without being noticed. An American frigate named the Abraham Lincoln is assigned to hunt down the creature, and Aronnax is invited to join the expedition as France’s representative.
CHAPTER 3: As Master Wishes
Aronnax has his manservant Conseil prepare their belongings and board the Abraham Lincoln. The ship departs New York harbor with great fanfare.
CHAPTER 4: Ned Land
During the voyage, Prof. Aronnax becomes friends with the great Canadian harpooner Ned Land. Ned Land is skeptical of Aronnax’s narwhale theory, but he has no other explanation for the phenomenon.
CHAPTER 5: At Random!
Months pass and spirits fall as the expedition seems to have no real trail to follow. With the crew near mutiny, Farragut decides to allow the Abraham Lincoln to head back towards home empty-handed, but at the last moment Ned sights the creature.
The Abraham Lincoln pursues the creature but is hopelessly outmatched by its speed. For the next day the creature toys with the frigate. The next night the creature’s glowing core shows that it has ceased moving and the Lincoln moves in for a strike. Ned’s harpoon bounces off the creature's skin. Waterspouts then erupt from the creature which hit the frigate and knock Aronnax overboard.
CHAPTER 7: A Whale of Unknown Species
Conseil dives after his master into the sea, while the Abraham Lincoln sails away, its propeller and rudder damaged by the creature. Aronnax and Conseil eventually come across Ned Land who is standing atop the creature, which turns out to be some kind of metal submersible ship. Hours pass and Aronnax thinks he hears music coming from inside. Eventually the submersible seems to take notice of its topside passengers and the trio are brought below.
The three are placed in a dark room. Eventually two figures appear, one of them strangely noble, but neither say a word to the inadvertent guests. Eventually they are served food with silverware engraved with the logo "MOBILIS IN MOBILI - N" (“moving within the moving element”). Still puzzled as to the identity of their captors, they fall asleep.
CHAPTER 9: The Tantrums of Ned Land
The next day no food arrives and Ned begins thinking of trying to take over the ship by force. Eventually a steward enters. Ned attacks him, but a voice calls out in French.
The owner of the voice, Captain Nemo, tells the trio that they may stay onboard his vessel but must agree to confinement during certain unavoidable actions he must take in the near future – this will spare them from becoming “complicit witnesses”. However, they are not allowed to leave the ship. Ned Land is at first angry at this condition, but is appeased when he and Conseil are led to some food. Nemo hosts Aronnax himself as a dinner guest and explains that all of their food, clothing and utensils come from the sea.
“Let me tell you, professor, you won’t regret the time you spend aboard my vessel. You’re going to voyage through a land of wonders. Stunned amazement will probably be your habitual state of mind. It will be a long while before you tire of the sights constantly before your eyes. I’m going to make another underwater tour of the world—perhaps my last, who knows?—and I’ll review everything I’ve studied in the depths of these seas that I’ve crossed so often, and you can be my fellow student. Starting this very day, you’ll enter a new element, you’ll see what no human being has ever seen before—since my men and I no longer count—and thanks to me, you’re going to learn the ultimate secrets of our planet.”CHAPTER 11: The Nautilus
Nemo gives Aronnax a tour of his private museum and library. They enjoy some “undersea cigars”.
CHAPTER 12: Everything through Electricity
Nemo gives Aronnax a tour of the engine room and explains that he has found a way to generate electricity from sea water.
CHAPTER 13: Some Figures
Nemo explains how the ship functions underwater, and that the component parts for the construction of the Nautilus were built by different companies from different countries and then assembled at a secret island. He claims that he is wealthy beyond belief.
As the Nautilus navigates through the Black Current off Japan, Aronnax, Conseil and Ned marvel at the aquatic marvels they see through an underwater viewing port.
CHAPTER 15: An Invitation in Writing
Nemo disappears for several days, but eventually invites Aronnax and his friends to join him on a hunt in an underwater forest (Crespo). He explains how his diving suits work.
CHAPTER 16: Strolling the Plains
Aronnax and Conseil don the underwater breathing suits and accompany Nemo on an underwater walk to the sunken Forest of Crespo.
CHAPTER 17: An Underwater Forest
On the way to the Forest of Crespo they encounter a giant spider but it is easily repelled with a gun butt blow. After using air guns to shoot a sea otter and an albatross (as game), they head back. When a shark appears they quickly drop out of sight to avoid its attentions.
CHAPTER 18: Four Thousand Leagues Under the Pacific
The Nautilus continues its deep sea journey and Nemo expounds on the elegance of life in the ocean. One day they encounter a sinking ship and witness drowned men and women still lashed to the ship's structure. The Nautilus goes around and continues on its way.
CHAPTER 19: Vanikoro
Off the coast of the island of Vanikoro, Nemo describes the fate of the missing French explorer La Pérouse, whose wreckage he had discovered years earlier.
While navigating through the dangerous Torres Strait, the Nautilus runs aground on a coral reef. Nemo decides to wait for a full moon so that the rising tide can float the Nautilus free. In the meantime, Ned, Conseil and Aronnax decide to do some (land) hunting on nearby Gueboroa Island (Papa New Guinea).
CHAPTER 21: Some Days Ashore
In the next few days the explorers collect fruits, vegetables and hunt down some game. Ned considers abandoning the Nautilus, but a thrown rock suddenly lands in their midst.
CHAPTER 22: The Lightning Bolts of Captain Nemo
Attacked by native cannibals, the trio quickly return to the Nautilus but Nemo seems unconcerned with the savages. When the moon arrives to allow the Nautilus to break free, the savages attack the ship, but an electric charge applied to the hull drives them away. The Nautilus escapes the Torres Strait.
CHAPTER 23: “Aegri Somnia” (“troubled dreams”)
One day Nemo’s mood becomes dark after his chief officer reports a sighting of some kind. Before Aronnax can determine what is happening, Nemo has his three guests confined to a windowless room. They soon find out that their lunch has been laced with a sedative and fall unconscious into unhappy dreams.
CHAPTER 24: The Coral Realm
The next day Nemo asks Aronnax to inspect a wounded member of his crew. Aronnax can do nothing and the man dies in the night. The next day Nemo invites his guests on an underwater excursion among the coral reef. Nemo and his men lay down the corpse of the dead man in an underwater cemetery.
CHAPTER 1: The Indian Ocean
The Nautilus heads north towards India and passes through a "milky" part of the sea colored by a field of white glowworms.
CHAPTER 2: A New Proposition from Captain Nemo
Nemo invites Aronnax to accompany him on an inspection of some local pearl fisheries off Ceylon (Sri Lanka). However, Aronnax panics when informed about the nearby sharks. Conseil and Ned Land are also invited but seem oblivious to the danger.
CHAPTER 3: A Pearl Worth Ten Million
Nemo leads his guests to an underwater cavern where he is growing a massive pearl for the future. On the way back they a pearl diver attacked by a shark. Nemo attacks the shark in order to save the Indian diver. When Nemo begins losing the battle, Ned Land steps in and delivers the death blow. Nemo revives the diver and gives him some pearls before returning to the Nautilus. On board, Nemo tells Aronnax that he will always fight for the oppressed.
The Nautilus enters the Red Sea. Nemo informs Aronnax that they will soon reach the Mediterranean by navigating through an unknown tunnel connecting the two bodies of water.
CHAPTER 5: Arabian Tunnel
On a hunting trip, Ned Land harpoons a gigantic dugong (manatee). The Nautilus navigates through Nemo’s Arabian tunnel into the Mediterranean.
CHAPTER 6: The Greek Islands
Ned extracts a promise from Aronnax that they will try to escape if a real chance presents itself. Near the Greek islands, Nemo has gold delivered to a local diver he is friends with. The next day Nemo takes the Nautilus near an underwater volcanic region in order to impress Aronnax with the tectonic “construction” under the sea.
CHAPTER 7: The Mediterranean in Forty-Eight Hours
The Nautilus continues towards the Straits of Gibraltar. On the way, Aronnax makes note of the exotic undersea life as well as the many shipwrecks residing at the bottom of the sea.
CHAPTER 8: The Bay of Vigo
While passing near Spain, Ned insists that they make an escape attempt that night. Aronnax is unhappy about this move, but feels obligated to keep his promise. Just as the agreed time arrives, Aronnax runs into Nemo who tells Aronnax that they are currently at the bottom of the Bay of Vigo, where he gathers lost gold from the ships sunken there. Nemo claims that he has been using these lost treasures to finance the objectives of the oppressed, for example the Greeks’ fight against the invading Ottoman Turks.
CHAPTER 9: A Lost Continent
The next day Ned expresses his frustration that the previous night’s stop at the gold-laden ship graveyard had spoiled his plans for escape. That night, Nemo invites Aronnax for an underwater expedition. They visit the lost city of Atlantis, now in ruins.
CHAPTER 10: The Underwater Coalfields
After passing over the sunken continent of Atlantis, the Nautilus navigates through an underground tunnel which leads to the interior of a hollowed-out volcano. Here at his hidden base, Nemo replenishes his fuel supplies. Aronnax and his friends scout the interior and collect some honey.
CHAPTER 11: The Sargasso Sea
Nemo has the Nautilus pass through the Sargasso Sea, a “lake in the ocean” created by the Gulf Stream. The whirlpool nature of the water causes masses of vegetation and debris to collect in this region. After passing below the weeds, Nemo takes an detour into the deep depths of the area, where Aronnax takes some photos.
CHAPTER 12: Sperm Whales and Baleen Whales
When the Nautilus encounters a herd of baleen whales, Ned feels frustrated that he cannot use his harpoon skills on them. A herd of aggressive sperm whales approach and Nemo decides to fight off the sperm whales using the metal spur of the Nautilus to cut them in half. Afterwards, Ned becomes more and more resentful of Nemo.
Nemo heads further south into the Antarctic towards lands unexplored (even by him). Eventually they are confronted by the Ice Bank, a frozen landmass surrounding the South Pole. The Nautilus dives to less icy waters below the gigantic ice continent, and eventually reaches open sea once again after a couple days' journey underground.
CHAPTER 14: The South Pole
The ship arrives at another landmass and Aronnax studies the local wildlife (seals, walruses, birds). Nemo tries to take a reading to determine if they have actually reached the South Pole. After a couple days’ worth of bad weather, the reading is successful and confirms that Nemo is the first man to reach the South Pole. Nemo then plants a flag with the letter “N” on it and claims the Antarctic continent as his own sovereign territory.
CHAPTER 15: Accident or Incident?
The Nautilus heads back north but during the passage below the Ice Bank an iceberg shifts, causing the Nautilus to become shunted into a tunnel. They soon find that the tunnel has no exits.
CHAPTER 16: Shortage of Air
Faced with dwindling air supplies, the crew work feverishly to manually chip away a passage through the ice wall. At the same time the walls of the tunnel begin to freeze and close in, threatening to crush the Nautilus. Nemo ejects boiling water to halt the freezing process. With their air supply almost gone, Nemo has the Nautilus break through the final layer of ice entrapping them in the chamber. As they continue further north under the Ice Bank he realizes that they will not have enough air to reach open sea. He has the Nautilus aimed upwards and breaks through the floor of the Ice Bank by ramming it.
CHAPTER 17: From Cape Horn to the Amazon
Recovered with fresh air supplies, the Nautilus heads north along South America and nears the mouth of the Amazon. There the crew catches lamprey fish, and use these sucker fish to in turn capture giant turtles.
Heading further north into the Atlantic, the Nautilus encounters some giant squid. When several of these begin latching onto the ship, the propeller becomes fouled. Nemo has his vessel surface, after which a tentacle tears off the top hatch and invades the ship. A French sailor is taken by the tentacle and killed. On deck, the crew battle a dozen of the giant squid. Ned Land is caught by one of the giant tentacles and almost cut in half by the squid’s beak – however Nemo saves his life, paying back his debt to Ned from the pearl incident. Nemo mourns the loss of his crewman.
CHAPTER 19: The Gulf Stream
Nemo seems to withdraw into himself. As the Nautilus approaches Ned's hometown in Nova Scotia, he is determined to confront Nemo about regaining his freedom. When Aronnax sees Nemo, the captain is completely unsympathetic to his request. As the vessel passes by the Canadian coast, a lightning storm rises, foiling Ned’s plan of stealing the Nautilus’ skiff to escape. Nemo endures the storm on deck alone.
CHAPTER 20: In Latitude 47° 24’ and Longitude 17° 28’
The Nautilus heads further north, and then south, as if searching for something. They pass the the Transatlantic telegraph cable. Eventually Nemo finds what he has been looking for, the sunken wreckage of the French warship The Avenger.
CHAPTER 21: A Mass Execution
On the surface, a warship of unknown nationality begins shelling the Nautilus. Ned urges his friends to attempt swimming to the warship, but the Nautilus submerges before they can reach the deck and jump overboard. Aronnax is horrified as the Nautilus uses its ramming spur to sink the warship, consigning its crew to death. After following the boat's sinking wreck down to the bottom, Nemo retreats to his chambers and sobs before a picture of his wife and children.
CHAPTER 22: The Last Words of Captain Nemo
In the following days, ominous silence reigns over the ship, and Aronnax hardly sees any sign of the crew, let alone Nemo. One day Ned sights land through the mists and sets a time to escape. When Aronnax heads to the escape boat, he sees Nemo playing the organ. Just as he leaves the lounge he hears Nemo exclaim, “O almighty God! Enough! Enough!” At the skiff, Ned tries to release the boat but then realizes that the vessel is caught in the Moskstraumen, a notorious maelstrom. With possibility of escape banished, Ned tries to re-secure the boat but it is torn loose by the whirlpool and Aronnax loses consciousness.
CHAPTER 23: Conclusion
Aronnax wakes up in a hut on one of the Lofoten Islands with Conseil and Ned by his side. As he goes over his notes, he wonders if the Nautilus has survived the Maelstrom and if so, hopes that Nemo will one day turn away from his destructive mission of vengeance.
