20000 Leagues Under the Sea

20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA

by Jules Verne


The news spread worldwide about a serpent-like creature. Supposedly, part of the whale family has been ramming ships and sinking them with ease. The large ship named the Abraham Lincoln was sent out to find and kill this beast. An attack of the monster left Professor Aronnax and his long time sidekick Conseil thrown overboard. Ned Land, master harpooner was thrown overboard as well. An iron-plated submarine saved their lives. When taken aboard the submarine they were treated with hostility. With an introduction to Captain Nemo they became passengers aboard the Nautilus. They were astonished by the Nautilus on how it could dive down to the ocean depths to see all that the sea had to offer. Professor Aronnax and Conseil found the ocean depths to be a new world!
Many life and death experiences made Ned Land feel uneasy about his new life aboard the
Nautilus. He was determined to escape. Captain Nemo took them to many exquisite places. They
experienced hunting and searching for pearls, VigLo Bay, a hollowed out volcano, and the underwater city of Atlantis. Captain Nemo took them to the South Pole, where no man had been before and Captain Nemo was the first to go there. They almost died leaving the Great Ice Barrier. Then they fought with giant squid. Captain Nemo seemed to be seeking revenge on ships from his own country. He used the powerful Nautilus as a weapon to sink many ships. After 10 months of being aboard they completed their
underwater exploration covering 20,000 leagues under the sea. A Maelstrom hit the Nautilus and Professor Aronnax, Conseil and Ned Land, already in the dinghy ready to escape, were thrown from the submarine. They floated to safety and returned to their homeland. The mystery remains. Nobody knows what happened to the Nautilus and its infamous Captain Nemo.

Memorable Quotations

Memorable Quotes from
WWII-Pacific/Hiroshima


• Winston Churchill in regards to the atomic bomb:
"We seemed suddenly to have become possessed of a merciful abridgement of the slaughter in the Far East… To bring the war to an end, to avoid indefinite butchery, to give peace to the world, to lay a healing hand upon its people by a manifestation of overwhelming power at the cost of a few explosions, seemed, after all our toils and perils, a miracle of deliverance."

• President Truman in regards to the dropping of "Little Boy" on Hiroshima:
"…We have used it to shorten the agony of war, in order to save thousands and thousands of Americans. We shall continue to use it until we completely destroy Japan's capacity to make war. Only a Japanese surrender will stop us."

•Unknown petty Italian officer visiting Japan after alliance is sealed:
"For Americans, it is the dollar that is the moving spirit. They cannot win."

• Emperor Hirohito's announcement to the Japanese people of acceptance of Potsdam Conference:
"Despite the best that has been done by everyone, the war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan's advantage… In order to avoid further bloodshed, perhaps even the total extermination of human civilization, we shall have to endure the unendurable, to suffer the insufferable."


• Dwight Eisenhower, interview in Newsweek, 11/11/63
"...The Japanese were ready to surrender and it wasn't necessary to hit them with that awful thing."

• Herbert Hoover, reportedly addressing President Truman:
"I am convinced that if you, as President, will make a short-wave broadcast to the people of Japan - tell them they can have their Emperor if they surrender, that it will not mean unconditional surrender except for the militarists - you'll get a peace in Japan - you'll have both wars over."