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1ACCIDENT OR INCIDENT? The next day, the 22nd of March, at six in the morning, preparations for departure were begun. The
2last gleams of twilight were melting into night. The cold was great, the constellations shone with wonderful intensity.
3In the zenith glittered that wondrous Southern Cross--the polar bear of Antarctic regions. The thermometer showed 12
4below zero, and when the wind freshened it was most biting. Flakes of ice increased on the open water. The sea seemed
5everywhere alike. Numerous blackish patches spread on the surface, showing the formation of fresh ice. Evidently the
6southern basin, frozen during the six winter months, was absolutely inaccessible. What became of the whales in that
7time? Doubtless they went beneath the icebergs, seeking more practicable seas. As to the seals and morses, accustomed to
8live in a hard climate, they remained on these icy shores. These creatures have the instinct to break holes in the
9ice-field and to keep them open. To these holes they come for breath; when the birds, driven away by the cold, have
10emigrated to the north, these sea mammals remain sole masters of the polar continent. But the reservoirs were filling
11with water, and the Nautilus was slowly descending. At 1,000 feet deep it stopped; its screw beat the waves, and it
12advanced straight towards the north at a speed of fifteen miles an hour. Towards night it was already floating under the
13immense body of the iceberg. At three in the morning I was awakened by a violent shock. I sat up in my bed and listened
14in the darkness, when I was thrown into the middle of the room. The Nautilus, after having struck, had rebounded
15violently. I groped along the partition, and by the staircase to the saloon, which was lit by the luminous ceiling. The
16furniture was upset. Fortunately the windows were firmly set, and had held fast. The pictures on the starboard side,
17from being no longer vertical, were clinging to the paper, whilst those of the port side were hanging at least a foot
18from the wall. The Nautilus was lying on its starboard side perfectly motionless. I heard footsteps, and a confusion of
19voices; but Captain Nemo did not appear. As I was leaving the saloon, Ned Land and Conseil entered. "What is the
20matter?" said I, at once. "I came to ask you, sir," replied Conseil. "Confound it!" exclaimed the Canadian, "I know well
21enough! The Nautilus has struck; and, judging by the way she lies, I do not think she will right herself as she did the
22first time in Torres Straits." "But," I asked, "has she at least come to the surface of the sea?" "We do not know," said
23Conseil. "It is easy to decide," I answered. I consulted the manometer. To my great surprise, it showed a depth of more
24than 180 fathoms. "What does that mean?" I exclaimed. "We must ask Captain Nemo," said Conseil. "But where shall we find
25him?" said Ned Land. "Follow me," said I, to my companions. We left the saloon. There was no one in the library. At the
26centre staircase, by the berths of the ship's crew, there was no one. I thought that Captain Nemo must be in the pilot's
27cage. It was best to wait. We all returned to the saloon. For twenty minutes we remained thus, trying to hear the
28slightest noise which might be made on board the Nautilus, when Captain Nemo entered. He seemed not to see us; his face,
29generally so impassive, showed signs of uneasiness. He watched the compass silently, then the manometer; and, going to
30the planisphere, placed his finger on a spot representing the southern seas. I would not interrupt him; but, some
31minutes later, when he turned towards me, I said, using one of his own expressions in the Torres Straits: "An incident,
32Captain?" "No, sir; an accident this time." "Serious?" "Perhaps." "Is the danger immediate?" "No." "The Nautilus has
33stranded?" "Yes." "And this has happened--how?" "From a caprice of nature, not from the ignorance of man. Not a mistake
34has been made in the working. But we cannot prevent equilibrium from producing its effects. We may brave human laws, but
35we cannot resist natural ones." Captain Nemo had chosen a strange moment for uttering this philosophical reflection. On
36the whole, his answer helped me little. "May I ask, sir, the cause of this accident?" "An enormous block of ice, a whole
37mountain, has turned over," he replied. "When icebergs are undermined at their base by warmer water or reiterated shocks
38their centre of gravity rises, and the whole thing turns over. This is what has happened; one of these blocks, as it
39fell, struck the Nautilus, then, gliding under its hull, raised it with irresistible force, bringing it into beds which
40are not so thick, where it is lying on its side." "But can we not get the Nautilus off by emptying its reservoirs, that
41it might regain its equilibrium?" "That, sir, is being done at this moment. You can hear the pump working. Look at the
42needle of the manometer; it shows that the Nautilus is rising, but the block of ice is floating with it; and, until some
43obstacle stops its ascending motion, our position cannot be altered." Indeed, the Nautilus still held the same position
44to starboard; doubtless it would right itself when the block stopped. But at this moment who knows if we may not be
45frightfully crushed between the two glassy surfaces? I reflected on all the consequences of our position. Captain Nemo
46never took his eyes off the manometer. Since the fall of the iceberg, the Nautilus had risen about a hundred and fifty
47feet, but it still made the same angle with the perpendicular. Suddenly a slight movement was felt in the hold.
48Evidently it was righting a little. Things hanging in the saloon were sensibly returning to their normal position. The
49partitions were nearing the upright. No one spoke. With beating hearts we watched and felt the straightening. The boards
50became horizontal under our feet. Ten minutes passed. "At last we have righted!" I exclaimed. "Yes," said Captain Nemo,
51going to the door of the saloon. "But are we floating?" I asked. "Certainly," he replied; "since the reservoirs are not
52empty; and, when empty, the Nautilus must rise to the surface of the sea." We were in open sea; but at a distance of
53about ten yards, on either side of the Nautilus, rose a dazzling wall of ice. Above and beneath the same wall. Above,
54because the lower surface of the iceberg stretched over us like an immense ceiling. Beneath, because the overturned
55block, having slid by degrees, had found a resting-place on the lateral walls, which kept it in that position. The
56Nautilus was really imprisoned in a perfect tunnel of ice more than twenty yards in breadth, filled with quiet water. It
57was easy to get out of it by going either forward or backward, and then make a free passage under the iceberg, some
58hundreds of yards deeper. The luminous ceiling had been extinguished, but the saloon was still resplendent with intense
59light. It was the powerful reflection from the glass partition sent violently back to the sheets of the lantern. I
60cannot describe the effect of the voltaic rays upon the great blocks so capriciously cut; upon every angle, every ridge,
61every facet was thrown a different light, according to the nature of the veins running through the ice; a dazzling mine
62of gems, particularly of sapphires, their blue rays crossing with the green of the emerald. Here and there were opal
63shades of wonderful softness, running through bright spots like diamonds of fire, the brilliancy of which the eye could
64not bear. The power of the lantern seemed increased a hundredfold, like a lamp through the lenticular plates of a
65first-class lighthouse. "How beautiful! how beautiful!" cried Conseil. "Yes," I said, "it is a wonderful sight. Is it
66not, Ned?" "Yes, confound it! Yes," answered Ned Land, "it is superb! I am mad at being obliged to admit it. No one has
67ever seen anything like it; but the sight may cost us dear. And, if I must say all, I think we are seeing here things
68which God never intended man to see." Ned was right, it was too beautiful. Suddenly a cry from Conseil made me turn.
69"What is it?" I asked. "Shut your eyes, sir! Do not look, sir!" Saying which, Conseil clapped his hands over his eyes.
70"But what is the matter, my boy?" "I am dazzled, blinded."
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