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"
"And you get then?"
"A speed of fifty miles an hour."
"I have seen the Nautilus manoeuvre before the Abraham Lincoln,
and I have my own ideas as to its speed. But this is not enough.
We must see where we go. We must be able to direct it to the right,
to the left, above, below. How do you get to the great depths,
where you find an increasing resistance, which is rated by hundreds
of atmospheres? How do you return to the surface of the ocean?
And how do you maintain yourselves in the requisite medium?
Am I asking too much?"
"Not at all, Professor," replied the Captain, with some hesitation;
"since you may never leave this submarine boat. Come into the saloon,
it is our usual study, and there you will learn all you want to know
about the Nautilus."
CHAPTER XII
SOME FIGURES
A moment after we were seated on a divan in the saloon smoking.
The Captain showed me a sketch that gave the plan, section, and elevation
of the Nautilus. Then he began his description in these words:
"Here, M. Aronnax, are the several dimensions of the boat
you are in. It is an elongated cylinder with conical ends.
It is very like a cigar in shape, a shape already adopted
in London in several constructions of the same sort.
The length of this cylinder, from stem to stern, is exactly
232 feet, and its maximum breadth is twenty-six feet.
It is not built quite like your long-voyage steamers,
but its lines are sufficiently long, and its curves
prolonged enough, to allow the water to slide off easily,
and oppose no obstacle to its passage. These two dimensions
enable you to obtain by a simple calculation the surface and
cubic contents of the Nautilus. Its area measures 6,032 feet;
and its contents about 1,500 cubic yards; that is to say,
when completely immersed it displaces 50,000 feet of water,
or weighs 1,500 tons.
"When I made the plans for this submarine vessel, I meant that nine-tenths
should be submerged: consequently it ought only to displace nine-tenths
of its bulk, that is to say, only to weigh that number of tons.
I ought not, therefore, to have exceeded that weight, constructing it on
the aforesaid dimensions.
"The Nautilus is composed of two hulls, one inside, the other outside,
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