Produced by Judy Boss
WORKS of JULES VERNE
THE SURVIVORS OF THE CHANCELLOR was issued in 1875. Shipwrecks occur inother of Verne's tales; but this is his only story devoted wholly tosuch a disaster. In it the author has gathered all the tragedy, themystery, and the suffering possible to the sea. All the various formsof disaster, all the possibilities of horror, the depths of shame andagony, are heaped upon these unhappy voyagers. The accumulation ismathematically complete and emotionally unforgettable. The tale haswell been called the "imperishable epic of shipwreck."
The idea of the book is said to have originated in the celebratedFrench painting by Gericault, "the Wreck of the Medusa," now in theLouvre gallery. The Medusa was a French frigate wrecked off the coastof Africa in 1816. Some of the survivors, escaping on a raft, wererescued by a passing ship after many days of torture. Verne, however,seems also to have drawn upon the terrifying experiences of the Britishship Sarah Sands in 1857, her story being fresh in the public mind atthe time he wrote. The Sarah Sands caught fire off the African coastwhile on a voyage to India carrying British troops. There was gunpowderaboard liable to blow up at any moment. Some of it did indeed explode,tearing a huge hole in the vessel's side. A storm added to the terror,and the waters entering the breach caused by the explosion, combatedwith the fire. After ten days of desperate struggle, the charred andsinking vessel reached a port.
The extreme length of life which Verne allows his people in theirstarving, thirsting condition is proven possible by medical science andrecent "fasting"' experiments. The dramatic climax of the tale whereinthe castaways find fresh water in the ocean is based upon a fact, oneof those odd geographical facts of which the author made such frequent,skillful and instructive use.
"Michael Strogoff" which, through its use as a stage play, has becomeone of the best known books of all the world, was first published in1876. Its vivid, powerful story has made it a favorite with everyred-blooded reader. Its two well-drawn female characters, thecourageous heroine, and the stern, endurant, yearning mother, show howwell Verne could depict the tenderer sex when he so willed. Thoughusually the rapid movement and adventure of his stories leave women insubordinate parts.
As to the picture drawn in "Michael Strogoff" of Russia and Siberia, itis at once instructive and sympathetic. The horrors are not blinked at,yet neither is Russian patriotism ignored. The loyalty of some of theSiberian exiles to their mother country is a side of life there whichis too often ignored by writers who dwell only on the darker view.
The Czar, in our author's hands, becomes the hero figure to theerection of which French "hero worship" is ever prone. The sarcasmsthrown occasionally at the British newspaper correspondent of thestory, show the changing attitude of Verne toward England, and reflectthe French spirit of his day.
The Survivors of the Chancellor
by Jules Verne
CHARLESTON, September 27, 1898.—It is high tide, and three o'clock inthe afternoon when we leave the Battery quay; the ebb carries us offshore, and as Captain Huntly has hoisted both main and top sails, thenortherly breeze drives the Chancellor briskly across the bay. FortSumter ere long is doubled, the