Jules Verne

On the 2nd of February, 1873, the "Pilgrim," a tight little craft of 400 tons burden, lay in lat. 43 57', S. and long. 165 19', W. She was a schooner, the property of James W. Weldon, a wealthy Californian ship-owner who had fitted her out at San Francisco, expressly for the whale-fisheries in the southern seas. James Weldon was accustomed every season to send his whalers both to the Arctic regions beyond Behring Straits, and to the Antarctic Ocean below Tasmania and Cape Horn; and the "Pilgrim," although one of the smallest, was one of the best-going vessels of its class; her sailing-powers were splendid, and her rigging was so adroitly adapted that with a very small crew she might venture without risk within sight of the impenetrable ice-fields of the southern hemisphere: under skilful guidance she could dauntlessly thread her way amongst the drifting ice-bergs that, lessened though they were by perpetual shocks and undermined by warm currents, made their way northwards as far as the parallel of New Zealand or the Cape of Good Hope, to a latitude corresponding to which in the northern hemisphere they are never seen, having already melted away in the depths of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. For several years the command of the "Pilgrim" had been entrusted to Captain Hull, an experienced seaman, and one of the most dexterous harpooners in Weldon's service. The crew consisted of five sailors and an apprentice. This number, of course, was quite insufficient for the process of whale-fishing, which requires a large contingent both for manning the whale-boats and for cutting up the whales after they are captured; but Weldon, following the example of other owners, found it more economical to embark at San Francisco only just enough men to work the ship to New Zealand, where, from the promiscuous gathering of seamen of well-nigh every nationality, and of needy emigrants, the captain had no difficulty in engaging as many whalemen as he wanted for the season. This method of hiring men who could be at once discharged when their services were no longer required had proved altogether to be the most profitable and convenient.

The story starts in London on Tuesday, 1 October, 1872. Phileas Fogg is a rich British gentleman living in solitude. Despite his wealth, Fogg lives a modest life with habits carried out with mathematical precision. Very little can be said about his social life other than that he is a member of the Reform Club. Having dismissed his former valet, James Forster, for bringing him shaving water at 84 F (29 C) instead of 86 F (30 C), Fogg hires a Frenchman by the name of Jean Passepartout as a replacement. At the Reform Club, Fogg gets involved in an argument over an article in The Daily Telegraph stating that with the opening of a new railway section in India, it is now possible to travel around the world in 80 days. He accepts a wager for 20,000 (equal to about 1.6 million in 2015) from his fellow club members to complete such a journey within this time period. With Monsieur Passepartout accompanying him, Fogg departs from London by train at 8:45 P. M. on 2 October; if he is to win the wager, then he will have to return to the club by this same time on 21 December, 80 days later.

The scene is in San Francisco, the capital of California, but not at the period when the placer-mining fever was raging-from 1849 to 1852. San Francisco was no longer what it had been then, a caravanserai, a terminus, an inn, where for a night there slept the busy men who were hastening to the gold-fields west of the Sierra Nevada. At the end of some twenty years the old unknown Yerba-Buena had given place to a town unique of its kind, peopled by 100,000 inhabitants, built under the shelter of a couple of hills, away from the shore, but stretching off to the farthest heights in the background-a city in short which has dethroned Lima, Santiago, Valparaiso, and every other rival, and which the Americans have made the queen of the Pacific, the "glory of the western coast "

Seconde Patrie est un roman de Jules Verne paru en 1900, faisant partie du genre robinsonnade . "Seconde patrie" reste un roman typique d'aventures de naufrag s: organisation de la vie quotidienne avec ses v nements tant t optimistes, tant t pessimistes. Verne y ajoute videmment sa petite touche p dagogique avec ses descriptions multiples, sa romance avec les amourettes qui se cr ent rapidement, et bien entendu, son sens du suspens Jules Verne commence par nous rappeler l'histoire des Robinsons suisses: la famille Zermatt, comptant deux parents et trois enfants est victime d'un naufrage au large de l'Indon sie. Ils chouent sur une le d serte, plut t paradisiaque et vont s'y installer petit petit avec courage et d termination, pour atteindre un r el confort sur cette grande le o ils ne manquent de rien car animaux, fruits et plantes abondent. La famille Zermatt vit aujourd'hui des jours heureux sur son le la Nouvelle-Suisse, bien qu'esp rant toujours qu'un navire les r cup re. Ce navire arrive enfin: il s'agit de la Licorne, vaisseau de guerre britannique. La joie est immense. Mais le d sir de rester dans l' le paradisiaque persiste Finalement des passagers, les Wolston, d cident de rester sur l' le, tandis que deux des fils Zermatt ainsi que leur amie Jenny d cident de rejoindre l'Angleterre, mais promettent de revenir avec des colons dans moins d'un an

Un billet de loterie est un roman d'amour de Jules Verne, publi en 1886. L'action se passe en Norv ge, dans le comt de Telemark. Le fianc de Hulda Hansen est port disparu. Il tait bord d'un bateau de p che qui a fait naufrage au large de Terre-Neuve. La seule trace qui reste de lui est un billet de loterie qu'il avait laiss dans une bouteille jet e l'eau au moment du naufrage. La loterie ne sera tir e que quelques mois plus tard. Hulda et son fr re sauvent le d put Sylvius Hog d'une noyade dans la rivi re Rjukan (chapitre VIII). La m re de Hulda a d' normes dettes aupr s du tr s antipathique Sandgo st. Le billet de loterie prend une norme valeur financi re, car l'histoire rocambolesque qui lui est associ e a fait la une des journaux et des collectionneurs fortun s veulent l'acqu rir. La fianc e est partag e entre le d sir de garder la derni re trace de son bien-aim et le d sir d'aider sa m re. D chir e, elle est oblig e de vendre le billet de loterie. Lors du tirage de la loterie, tout prend une fin heureuse: le d put reconnaissant avait retrouv le fianc convalescent et avait rachet le billet de loterie, qui bien videmment s'av re gagnant. Le m chant Sandgo st est furieux de ne rien avoir gagn alors que tant d'argent tait sa port e.

Nothing, sir, can induce me to surrender my claim." "I am sorry, count, but in such a matter your views cannot modify mine." "But allow me to point out that my seniority unquestionably gives me a prior right." "Mere seniority, I assert, in an affair of this kind, cannot possibly entitle you to any prior claim whatever." "Then, captain, no alternative is left but for me to compel you to yield at the sword's point." "As you please, count; but neither sword nor pistol can force me to forego my pretensions. Here is my card." "And mine." This rapid altercation was thus brought to an end by the formal interchange of the names of the disputants. On one of the cards was inscribed: Captain Hector Servadac, Staff Officer, Mostaganem. On the other was the title: Count Wassili Timascheff, On board the Schooner "Dobryna." It did not take long to arrange that seconds should be appointed, who would meet in Mostaganem at two o'clock that day; and the captain and the count were on the point of parting from each other, with a salute of punctilious courtesy, when Timascheff, as if struck by a sudden thought, said abruptly: "Perhaps it would be better, captain, not to allow the real cause of this to transpire?" "Far better," replied Servadac; "it is undesirable in every way for any names to be mentioned." "In that case, however," continued the count, "it will be necessary to assign an ostensible pretext of some kind. Shall we allege a musical dispute? a contention in which I feel bound to defend Wagner, while you are the zealous champion of Rossini?" "I am quite content," answered Servadac, with a smile; and with another low bow they parted. The scene, as here depicted, took place upon the extremity of a little cape on the Algerian coast, between Mostaganem and Tenes, about two miles from the mouth of the Shelif. The headland rose more than sixty feet above the sea-level, and the azure waters of the Mediterranean, as they softly kissed the strand, were tinged with the reddish hue of the ferriferous rocks that formed its base. It was the 31st of December. The noontide sun, which usually illuminated the various projections of the coast with a dazzling brightness, was hidden by a dense mass of cloud, and the fog, which for some unaccountable cause, had hung for the last two months over nearly every region in the world, causing serious interruption to traffic between continent and continent, spread its dreary veil across land and sea.

La estrella del sur (L' toile du sud. Le pays des diamants) es una novela escrita originalmente por Andr Laurie y revisada, corregida y publicada por Julio Verne en Magasin d' ducation et de R cr ation desde el 1 de enero hasta el 15 de diciembre de 1884, y como libro el 6 de noviembre del mismo a o. La novela trata sobre la conversi n industrial del carb n en diamante.

K raban-le-T tu est un roman humoristique et d'aventures de Jules Verne, paru en 1883. L'oeuvre para t d'abord en feuilleton dans le Magasin d' ducation et de r cr ation du 1er janvier au 15 octobre, puis en volume le 15 novembre 1883 chez Hetzel. Le r cit raconte les tribulations d'un vendeur de tabac turc (K raban) et d'un de ses clients hollandais autour de la mer Noire. K raban, fier et t tu, refuse d'acquitter une taxe impos e inopin ment par le sultan pour la travers e du Bosphore. Il d cide donc de rallier Constantinople (Istanbul) Scutari (Uskudar), en faisant le tour de la mer Noire. Et voici que commence, pour K raban et son ami hollandais Van Mitten, une ahurissante aventure... Ce roman d'aventure, l'un des plus comiques de l'auteur fran ais, est aussi l'un de ses plus m connus. Le r cit r v le un aspect tr s th tral, auquel Jules Verne se pr te rarement. L'auteur exploite aussi avec talent la mollesse du commer ant batave et le caract re inflexible de K raban. Par moment, les probl mes conjugaux de Jules Verne transparaissent dans le r cit.

The Mysterious Island is a novel by Jules Verne, published in 1874. The original edition, published by Hetzel, contains a number of illustrations by Jules F rat. The novel is a crossover sequel to Verne's famous Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and In Search of the Castaways, though its themes are vastly different from those books. An early draft of the novel, initially rejected by Verne's publisher and wholly reconceived before publication, was titled Shipwrecked Family: Marooned With Uncle Robinson, seen as indicating the influence on the novel of Robinson Crusoe 1] and The Swiss Family Robinson. Verne developed a similar theme in his later novel, Godfrey Morgan (French: L' cole des Robinsons, 1882)

En cette ann e 1866, une forte angoisse r gne sur les oc ans. Un monstre marin effrayant a t signal dans diverses mers par plusieurs navires. Une exp dition s'organise bord de la fr gate am ricaine Abraham Lincoln. Elle a notamment son bord le capitaine Faragutt, le canadien Ned Land, le fameux naturaliste fran ais Aronnax du Mus um de Paris et son fid le domestique Conseil. Le but de cette exp dition est de d barrasser les mers de cette abominable menace.