The Mysterious Island

Now the minds of the men turn to crafting a new ship to replace the Bonadventure, wanting to leave a message on Tabor Island for any ships who may pass by and discover it there. This time, they want to construct a much larger ship, large enough to carry them further distances and even to inhabited islands. They estimate the construction will take seven to eight months.

They also set about repairing the damage wrought by the pirates on the rest of the island and their crops, work made lighter by the fact that Ayrton now works alongside the men day by day. They work steadily until the harshest months of winter, resting until the winter weather abates. They then witness a potentially life-altering event: “On September 7th, gazing at the summit of Mount Franklin, Cyrus Smith saw a vaporous plume writhing over the crater, as jets of steam shot high into the air” (650).

The mountain continues to smoke, but nothing more serious occurs, so the men go about their work. The weeks pass, and the ship’s construction continues apace until one night before sleep, the telegraph begins to beep all on its own. The men send a message back down the line and receive a response demanding they hasten to the sheepfold. Running through the night, they arrive at the sheepfold and discover a note, which informs them that they must follow the new wire installed connecting the sheepfold to some unknown destination. They do so and leave the sheepfold at once.

Following the wire through jungle and rock, they discover that the line leads straight into the ocean: “A cry of disappointment sprang from their breasts—almost a cry of rage! Would they have to dive into the water in search of some undersea cavern? In their current state of physical and emotional frenzy, they would not have hesitated for a moment” (660). They wait for low tide, and when it arrives, the entrance to a cavern is revealed, into which they descend. Finding a boat, they step aboard and row through the vast cavern and into an enormous space. Coming to the heart of the cavern, they discover a massive submarine, and aboard the submarine is the mysterious person they have sought for years: Captain Nemo.

Entering the submarine, called the Nautilus, Nemo is surprised to realize that he is known to Cyrus, who has read the account of some of his exploits that were published under the title Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. Captain Nemo, grateful to speak with them at last, tells them the tale of his life as the exiled Prince Dakkar of India. Now, Nemo tells them, he is the last remaining survivor of the Nautilus, and Lincoln Island is one of the many underwater harbors he has found in his years of sailing.

Nemo relates how he was on an underwater walk on the ocean floor when Cyrus was cast into the sea in the storm, so he decided to rescue him. From that point, Nemo observed their adventures and exploits, stepping in at various points in times of great need to lend his assistance. Disregarding the various events of his life that may have been deserving of greater scrutiny, judgment, or even condemnation, the men express only their gratitude: “All great actions redound to God, for it is from Him that they come!” proclaims Cyrus, “Captain Nemo, you are surrounded by good men whose lives you have saved, and they will grieve for you forever!” (678).

The men realize that they have been summoned because Captain Nemo is dying. Calling them around him, he imparts his dying wish: They must sink the Nautilus in the depths of the ocean to be his undersea grave. As a token of his gratitude, he gives them a chest filled with diamonds, which they are to take with them the next morning in accomplishing their task. Nemo commends them for their ingenuity and dedication to each other and their homeland.

For a moment, Nemo speaks with Cyrus alone, but Cyrus does not reveal what was said, and a few hours later, in the middle of the night, Captain Nemo closes his eyes in death. Praying over his body, the men ready the ship for its last voyage to the bottom of the ocean. Several hours later, they leave the Nautilus, taking the diamond chest with them, and sink the ship. Dubbing the place Dakkar Crypt, they take the rowboat back out of the cavern and return to Granite House.

More intent than ever on completing their ship, the men spend the next three months working furiously. On January 3, a new development with the mountain occurs, and the volcano begins to smoke and rumble. Cyrus worries this may bode ill for the company, and they redouble their efforts to complete the ship as quickly as possible. One night, however, the mountain finally erupts, sending sparks and fire flying into the air; it is not a full-scale eruption, but it causes the men some anxiety.

Venturing to the sheepfold, Cyrus and Ayrton take care of some things in need of oversight, and Cyrus decides to take a solo excursion to check on the progress of the volcanic eruption. Not gaining any new information, and with their work at the sheepfold done, Cyrus takes Ayrton to Dakkar Crypt, where they discover that the signs of the volcanic eruption are much graver in the cavern and surrounding area. The men then make their way back out of the cavern.

Returning to Granite House, Cyrus calls the company together to relate his findings and share a secret. The island is bound for imminent destruction: “I will pass on to you the explanation given to me by Captain Nemo in our brief private conversation” (703). Cyrus explains that due to the volcanic nature of the island, the final eruption of the volcano will result not just in a normal lava flow, but in the total destruction of Lincoln Island. Their only hope now lies in the rapid completion of the second iteration of the Bonadventure.

Working furiously, the next days pass by speedily until one evening a week later, the volcano erupts with new force. The men rush to the sheepfold to gather as many supplies as they can and to release the animals. They observe the flow of the lava, and Cyrus determines that they might be able to stave off total destruction of the island by the lava flow if they can somehow build a makeshift canal to redirect the magma. Working quickly, the men manage to redirect the flow into Lake Grant, staving off the lava flow for a number of days and allowing them to try to complete construction of their ship.

A perilous month passes while they near the completion of the ship, and a new explosion rocks the island to its core on the evening of March 8. Their plans are to launch the ship the very next day, so they rush to complete their preparations, stocking the ship with last-minute provisions as the volcano explodes around them. With one last shudder, the island shakes and the explosion throws the men from the beach into the sea. The remains of the island sink beneath the waves, disappearing forever.

Having been thrown into the water, the men take refuge on one solid piece of rock that remains of the island, but they are without hope. The volcano has destroyed the island and their ship along with it. For nine days, the men last on the scant provisions left floating in the waves, but they know they must soon despair of their lives:

Cyrus Smith maintained his usual calm. Gideon Spilett, more agitated, and Pencroff, in the grips of a simmering rage, paced endlessly over the rock. Harbert never left the engineer’s side, staring into his face as if to beg for a deliverance that he could not provide. Neb and Ayrton had simply resigned themselves to their fate (718).

After two weeks, a ship appears on the horizon: Ayrton recognizes it as the Duncan, the ship they had long expected to return to Tabor Island to recollect Ayrton.

The men go aboard the steamship and speak with the captain, Robert Grant, who tells them he found a note on Tabor Island with the coordinates of their new home, Lincoln Island, and has come to rescue them. Astounded, the men realize that Captain Nemo commandeered the Bonadventure and left a note on the island himself during the time they were besieged by pirates. Ayrton announces one more surprise: He saved the chest of diamonds in the explosion, and the men rejoice.

Fifteen days later, the Duncan sails into harbor in America. The men use the immense fortune of the diamond chest to purchase land in Iowa, where they proceed to set up a new colony in the west as an homage to the island they left behind.