Adventures of the Hatteras captain

the Adventures of the captain Hatteras is a Romance of Jules Verne published starting from March 20th 1867 in the semi-monthly " Magazin d' Education and of Recreation ".

The first version was published in 1864, the final version was published in 1867; this novel tells a forwarding in 1860 - 1861 which wants to reach the North pole; it is directed by the captain Hatteras, a man with the iron will, he wants that it is the English flag which floats for the first time on the north pole. The Duk dog and the Clawbonny doctor are his principal companions.

The Riou draftsman drew the 150 labels which illustrate this book.

Historical reality

The theory of the free polar sea of ice

This novel is partly based on the assumption of a free polar sea of ice. Historically, the geographer August Peterman was the holding main thing of this theory, it influenced certain forwardings of 1853 with 1876. The writer J. - M. - G. Clézio indicates that the road which followed the Hatteras captain is the same one as that followed by Markemson (interview of 2003 in an Hors-Série number of the monthly magazine Géo ).

In fact, the north pole was reached only one forty years after the edition of this novel, by Robert Peary, in 1909. In chapter XXIV of the second part, Jules Verne recognizes indirectly that the north pole is not ready to be reached: he recognizes that it is probable that the center of the Africa and that of the Australia will be reached before the north pole.

Greenland, the " Green Ground " in Xème century

Jules Verne indicates that according to the chroniclers Icelandic, there were 200 flourishing villages around the 10th century with the Greenland (green Land, green country) (chapter VII of the first part). At the time current, this theory is always of topicality: the scientists think that there was a temporary warming of Greenland which temporarily made it possible villages to develop.

Various versions of this book

In 1855, Jules Verne publishes a news " a wintering in the ices " in " the Museum of the Families ". There are certain common elements between this news and the novel.

A first version of " Voyages and adventures of the captain Hatteras " in 1864 in the form of two separate novels " appears; English with the north pole " and " the Desert of ice ".

Then, Jules Verne modifies his novel partly; the illustrations of Riou are added and the novel is republished in December 1866.

The final version of this novel appears in the form of serial in the semi-monthly " Magazin d' Education and of Recreation " as from March 1867, as of the first number of this magazine.

The romantic project of Verne: extraordinary voyages , presented by the Hetzel editor

The Hetzel editor, to the beginning of the book, presents the romantic project of Jules Verne " extraordinary voyages " and indicates which are the topics of the next novels of Jules Verne. The wording which it employs in its " warning " is " Voyages in the known and unknown Worlds ".

The character of the Duk dog, the “ dog-captain”

The Duk dog is the most original character of this novel; It is much more present than the Hatteras captain. Innumerable original anecdotes on this dog illustrate this novel. Several of the labels of Riou relate to it: one of it in particular in chapter VIII represents an oneiric vision where the dog holds the bar of the ship. It is the Clawbonny doctor who shows himself most affectionate with him, but it is above all completely faithful to the Hatteras captain, and only then with the group.

The other dogs in the books of Jules Verne play only one minor part: Signal in " the mysterious Island " and Zolg in " Shipwrecked men of the “Jonathan” ".

The Clawbonny doctor, assoiffé of new experiments, even with its costs

The Clawbonny doctor presents common features with many other characters of Jules Verne: it is a distracted scientist, but of an encyclopedic culture. He is the source of many amusing anecdotes " the class of the articulated animals , order of the Dipterous , family of the culicides, division of the némocères, was represented by simple a Moustique, only one, whose doctor had the joy of seizing after having undergone his bites. " (chapter XX of the first part).

One finds the various character traits of the Clawbonny doctor to multiple specimens in the work of Jules Verne, for example, in the Aronnax naturalist of " Twenty thousand miles under the seas " or the Paganel geographer of " Children of the captain Grant ". One of these features is rarer at Jules Verne: he tries to avoid the arguments between English Hatteras and American Altamont, he tries to divert the conversation when a too extreme subject is tackled.

English John Hatteras, an iron will

It is the character éponyme of this novel, but it generally appears in the second plan. It has an iron will, it is English and proud to be it. Jules Verne shows it for the first time in chapter XII of the first part and has his personality: " If I were not English (...), I would like to be English " (chapter XII). " a character never not to be moved back, and ready to play the life of the others with as much of conviction than his ". It with the same currency as the admiral Nelson " England waits until each one makes its duty " " England expects every man to C his duty ". The goal of the Hatteras captain is that the first forwarding to reach the north pole is of English nationality indisputably. It is the cause of many arguments with American Altamont, a member of forwarding in the second part of the novel.

In spite of his intransigent character, the Hatteras captain can feel human feelings:

It is not imperturbable in front of the human suffering.

In the final version of the book, when American Altamont, his rival, saves the life to him, it tests a sincere recognition.

In the initial manuscript, Verne made die Hatteras by reaching the north pole, but, perhaps influenced by Hetzel, it chooses another end: Hatteras reaches the north pole, but becomes insane. Even in his madness, until the last sentence of the book, the Hatteras captain is obsessed by the north pole.

The American Altamont, a rival of the Hatteras captain

It directed an American forwarding. He is the only survivor of this forwarding. Hidden under snow, it was saved of accuracy by the Clawbonny doctor and his companions at the end of the first " part; English with the North pole ". It is one of the main characters of the " second part; the desert of ice " : he is a member of forwarding, the Hatteras captain feels it as a rival because he is American. At the beginning, the Altamont captain hides the fact that he was member of an American forwarding towards the north pole. The arguments of Hatteras with Altamont are sometimes puerile: if forwarding uses the remains of an American boat to reach the north pole, Hatteras fears that forwarding is regarded as American.

Shandon, the second of the boat, become a traitor

This character is present only at the beginning of the first " part; English with the north pole ". He is initially the captain of the ship, then Hatteras becomes captain and he is nothing any more but second. He takes that very badly; Hatteras is quite conscious that it was put at back its second. When the living conditions become too hard and that the Hatteras captain left in forwarding during several days, it mutine with most of the crew and tries with them the return. At the end of the book, it proves that him and his/her companions underwent a right punishment: famished, they had recourse to the Anthropophagie, but they all are died. The topic of the anthropophagy is frequent at Jules Verne.

Opinion of Jules Verne on leprosy (and on dietetics)

A sentence rather curious about Jules Verne is undoubtedly representative of the opinion of some of the contemporaries of Jules Verne on the Lèpre (chapter X): " as among all people ichtyophages, leprosy corroded them partly, but they did not go from there more badly for that ".

Records of bearable high temperature by the man

In a passage of the book (chapter IX of the second part), Jules Verne reports a series of records of high temperature tolerated by the man. This passage is not very credible for a modern reader, but remains striking:

" Of the girls of service to the communal oven of the town of Rochefoucauld, in France, could remain ten minutes in this furnace, while the temperature was there with three hundred degrees (+132° degree Celsius), i.e. higher of quatre-vingt-neuf degrees than ebullient water, and while around of them of apples and the meat roasted perfectly. - What a girls! ". The preceding quotation is followed by the same type of record, established this time by English, with the great disappointment of Altamont…

The last example relates to the records established for ebullient water: " the duke of Raguse and Doctor Jung, a French and an Austrian transfer a Turk to plunge themselves in a bath which marked 170° (+78° Celsius). (…) It was necessary that this Turk was a not very ordinary man to support a similar heat! "

Detailed summary of the " part; English with the North pole "

With Liverpool, a brig the Forward (in French: " Ahead ") attract the curiosity of all: he is obviously conceived for the polar seas, but of many details in its constructions intrigue. Moreover, the sailors are very well paid, but they are unaware of the destination of the boat; the boat takes along an enormous quantity of powder, but few weapons. The captain is absent and unknown, the second in title, Shandon play the part of captain. There is a dog which is already present on the boat and which attracts the curiosity of the crew.

The Clawbonny doctor arrives on the boat (chapter III), but it does not know any more than all the others. He was contacted by letter only. That does not worry it, because it is avid new experiments.

A first letter brought by the dog indicates the first stage of the boat (chapter IV). The boat leaves (chapter V). Then, Doctor Clawbonny describes preceding explorations of the polar regions of 970 with 1845. The boat passes by the east coast of the Greenland (chapter VII). The crew recriminates: it is not possible to drink alcohol, moreover, the dog appears quite strange (chapter VIII).

A letter appears mysteriously, coming from the unknown captain (chapter IX), it indicates the following stage; the boat makes stopover with Upernivik (spelled Uppernawik in the book of Jules Verne), " the most septentrional establishment which Denmark has on these coasts " at the Eskimaux. Members of the crew tries to drown the dog; following an optical illusion related to the refraction, it reappears in the temporary shape of a giant, causing the fear of the crew (chapter X).

A Iceberg threat the ship, the true captain finally appears and safe the ship of an immediate danger. It is called Hatteras and its goal is to reach the geographical North pole, for the glory of the England (chapter XII); one learns also the name from the dog: Duk. An iceberg blocks the passage; one charges a gun with triple proportions of powder, but without ball; the sonic boom causes the destruction of the iceberg.

Forwarding reaches the pole Magnetic north, but it is not interesting that for the doctor Clawbonny " as you see it, it there does not have the least mountain able to attract the vessels, to tear off their iron to them, anchors by anchor, and your shoes themselves are as free as in any other point of the sphere " (chapter XVI). Whereas the crew drives out a Baleine, this one is crushed between 2 icebergs. This illustrates the extreme permanent danger. (chapter XIX). Forwarding exceeds the course Dundas (current Air base of Thulé)) and reached the point where she thought of finding fuel reserves, but the eskimaux ones plundered these reserves. The boatswain Johnson reports the death of the lieutenant Bellot in a preceding forwarding, it was an officer very considered by his men, died courageously in an accident by making his duty.

The Forward brig is raised by the ices and drifts with it (chapter XXIII). Misled by an optical illusion, the doctor kills a fox whereas he believed to shoot at a bear. The fox proves to carry a collar going back to preceding a forwarding going back to 1848, 12 years before (chapter XXV). The following chapter (XXVI) described the living conditions in the immobilized boat and the appearance of the Scurvy. As there is no more fuel, the crew wants to start to dismantle the boat to burn pieces of them. It is a terrible blow for the Hatteras captain who must let make. The ship continues to drift, towards North (chapter XXVII).

The Hatteras captain leaves in sledge to dogs for a forwarding 250 miles in order to reach a coal layer; His/her companions are the Clawbonny doctor and 2 men of crew, Bell and Simpson, and the Duk dog (chapter XXVIII). Afterwards many adventures, a more serious problem occurs: Simpson is seriously sick, then he dies by cursing the Hatteras captain (chapter XXXI). While wanting to bury it, the 3 survivors discover that there are men under their foot who have just been buried alive; one of them is still alive. It was about an American forwarding. They return to the Forward brig, without hoped coal; moreover, while arriving, they discover that the crew mutiné itself, put fire at the ship and set out again towards the South. There remains nothing any more but the faithful boatswain Johnson.

Summary court of the " part; the Desert of ice "

The English and the survivor, the Altamont American spend the winter in a roomy house, which they built freezes some to them-even. The English suspect as of the beginning that the Altamont captain directed an American forwarding towards the north pole. It is source of many arguments between him and the Hatteras captain.

Their house of ice is besieged by bears; they escape from it.

Spring arrives and forwarding towards the north pole continues. At the time of a hunting for the musk oxen, the Altamont captain saves the life of the Hatteras captain, although he is his rival; this one is grateful to him.

Forwarding arrives at a free sea of ice, they succeeds in manufacturing a boat, escapes a swirl and arrives on the island where the north pole is. This one is in the crater of a volcano; the Hatteras captain dares to go there, it survives but becomes insane. The return voyage is described quickly by Jules Verne.

At the end of the novel, Hatteras always insane, is looked after by the Clawbonny doctor. The Duk dog is always entirely devoted for him; until the last sentence of the book, the Hatteras captain is obsessed by the north pole.

Topics approached in the novel

the exploration of unknown grounds and the conquest of the North pole (the single obsession of the Hatteras captain, which will cause its madness)
ethnographic Étude of the “hyperborean” people (the Eskimaux)
lasts It survival in an extreme environment (fight against the cold, snow snow-blindness and the polar bears)

List characters

Beautiful
Lieutenant Bellot
Bolton
Brunton
Captain Dog
Doctor Clawbonny
Clifton
Main Cornhill
Duk
Foker
Garry
Grinnel
To seize up
Captain John Hatteras, known Altamont
under the pseudonym of K.Z.
Johnson
Doctor Kane
PEN
Plower
Richard Shandon
Simpson
Strong
James Wall
Waren
Wolsten

See too

Joseph-Rene Bellot

External references

Another summary of the book

Anecdotes on explorer of the pole at the time of Jules Verne

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