Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870). The mysterious island is a symbol of the globe, placed at the disposal of people interested in its transformation For many weeks, the frigate Abraham Lincoln
Path choice
Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809 in Kentucky to a poor farmer's family. Her entire well-being depended on a piece of land on which Abraham's parents, Thomas and Nancy Lincoln, worked. From childhood, Abraham was used to working, helping his parents to cultivate the land, hunting and picking wild berries. American farmers in the early nineteenth century. there were many dangers. Indian attacks, epidemics, depletion of the land forced them to often move from place to place. In 1816, the family moved to southwestern Indiana, which had shortly before been accepted into the union. The cultivation of the land and the meager life on the border of the settlers' advance to the West between the wilderness and civilization demanded great physical and spiritual strength from them. The lack of medical care led to victims in the Lincoln family: his younger brother died at an early age, at the age of 9 he lost his mother, and a few years later his older sister died of puerperal fever.
The father soon remarried. The stepmother, who herself had three children from her first marriage, encouraged the children to read. In total, Abraham attended school for one year. He himself said this: "It is undeniable that when I came of age, I knew little. However, I somehow read, wrote and counted, and that was all I could." The Bible, which in many families of pioneers was the only book in the house, and several other works that he could get - among them "Robinson Crusoe", "The Pilgrims' Wanderings" and the fables of Aesop 1 studied with particular thoroughness. His speeches subsequently testified to a deep knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, which at that time was not surprising. His quotations from the Bible, aptly applied to everyday events, were stunning.
Slavery occupied a significant place in the mind of Lincoln. His uncle and uncle's father had slaves. His father, on the contrary, resolutely rejected slavery, although not only for ethical and moral reasons, being a simple worker, he felt in his own skin what it means to compete with the labor of slaves. The family moved many times, built log house and cultivated the land. In 1830 they again moved further west to Illinois, which twelve years earlier had become part of the union as a free state from slavery. In the meantime, the grown-up Abraham worked for his father for some period, at that time his nickname "chip cutter" arose, given to him for his skillful and dexterous ability to work with an ax. Then he left his family, found a temporary job, and during one of his boat trips down the Mississippi down to New Orleans, he got acquainted not only with the expanses of the then United States, but also saw the lack of infrastructure, which still did not sufficiently connect individual regions with each other. The impressions of this trip, as well as visiting the slave market with groups of chained and singing slaves, deeply shocked him. Upon his return, he settled in the small village of Salem, Illinois, where he worked as a postmaster, merchant, and surveyor.
For several years, Lincoln studied law, hoping to become a lawyer. His interests also included history and philology, he independently studied mathematics and mechanics. Living among the common people, Lincoln managed to gain prestige through success in sports, especially in wrestling.
Nature rewarded Lincoln with a bright appearance. Huge growth, with unusually long arms and legs, his figure stood out in any crowd. One of Lincoln's contemporaries recalled that he exuded magnetism and energy that attracted people to him.
When the governor of Illinois called for volunteers in connection with the Black Falcon Indian War, Lincoln, whose paternal grandparents had been killed by the Indians, joined the military and was chosen by his comrades as a captain. His service in the army was short and passed without much incident for his unit.
Becoming a politician
Lincoln made his first steps in politics in 1834. The position of captain strengthened his self-confidence so much that he tried to get a seat in the Illinois House of Representatives. In the election campaign, he advocated the expansion and improvement of infrastructure and the development of education. After failing in his first attempt, Lincoln was elected two years later and confirmed his mandate as a member of the Whig party until 1842. During this period, he was active as leader of his party and chairman of the finance committee. In Illinois, Lincoln went through an excellent political school and won the authority of his colleagues. In 1836, Lincoln passed a difficult exam and was allowed to practice his own law. Becoming a lawyer, he moved to the city of Springfield. Lincoln was making good money for the first time in his life. To do this, he had to practice throughout the judicial district. Every spring and autumn he rode or in a carriage hundreds of miles across the sparsely populated prairies from one village to another, sorting out the litigation of farmers. The cases were for the most part small, and the fees for them were negligible. Lincoln's deep knowledge of law and disinterestedness achieved fame in the state of Illinois.
Professionally, he was not lucky at first, and he often had debts, which he always paid to the last penny. Considering his lineage, Lincoln has come a long way: almost like the proverb “from poor to rich,” the poor son of a pioneer settler, before the age of thirty, became a practicing lawyer and a politician in the public eye. He was already then the embodiment of a self-made man, and thus the "American Dream". His marriage in 1842 to Mary Todd, the daughter of a Southern planter, only added to the picture of social upheaval. They had four sons, but only one, Robert Todd, survived to adulthood.
When Lincoln entered the political arena, Andrew Jackson was president. Lincoln shared Jackson's sympathy for the common man, but not his understanding of the philosophy of public rights, that the federal government should, in the name of the common good, refrain from all economic initiatives and adjustments. His political models were Daniel Webster and Henry Clay, who promoted economic consolidation of the union through the actions of Congress and the federal government. Under the slogan "the American system," they demanded the unification of banking and currencies, the improvement of infrastructure, and the development of American industry through protectionist tariffs. Like most Whig politicians, Lincoln was reserved on the issue of slavery: he rejected the "special institution" emotionally and morally, but did not want to be ranked among the abolitionists, whose inflammatory rhetoric he sharply criticized.
The assassination of abolitionist newspaper publisher Elijah Lovejoy in 1837, reluctantly condemned by the Illinois Congress, was a turning point in Lincoln's political development. This incident prompted him to make his first speech of principle at the Lyceum "Young People" in Springfield. Using motives and elements of romance in his speech, he emphasized the core values of American democracy and the legacy of the founding fathers of the nation. The constitution and laws should be revered as a kind of "political religion". The unrestrained domination of the mob - as in the case of the lynching - must never threaten national harmony. At the same time, abolitionism 2 did not seem to him the right way to solve the problem of slavery.
The next step in the political career of Abraham Lincoln was his election to the House of Representatives of the US Congress in 1847. Work in Congress opens up the opportunity to apply for a seat in the government of the country. However, Lincoln failed this time to stand out among American legislators. Moreover, by speaking out against American aggression in Mexico and the policies of President Polk, Lincoln made many political enemies. The point was that the United States at that time was actively foreign policy to seize the lands of neighboring countries, especially Mexico. With the help of weapons and money, Americans for the first half of the XIX century. increased their territory by 3.5 times. Most of the population of the country supported such actions of the government. Lincoln, being a staunch opponent of war, spoke out strongly against the American invasion of Mexico. Assessing the actions of the government, he stated that "the political course of the Democrats leads to new wars, territorial seizures, to the further spread of slavery."
When his term in the House of Representatives expired in 1849, he did not even try to run for office. Returning home from Congress to Springfield marked the onset of the worst period in Lincoln's life: he lost political popularity, his law practice was significantly reduced, and large debts appeared. But over the next three or four years, thanks to perseverance and knowledge. Lincoln became Illinois' leading lawyer. Having taken up this or that case, he always sought a thorough investigation, knew the laws relevant to the case to the subtleties, knew how to overcome all formalities and get to the heart of the issue. Traveling around the judicial district, he regained his former popularity.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 increased political polarization and contributed to the dissolution of the old party system and the emergence of a new political situation. The Whigs, whose northern wing insisted on an unequivocal abolition of slavery, lost support in the South, and the party collapsed. The political vacuum was filled by the newly formed Republican Party, which organized resistance to the Kansas-Nebraska Act. An unsuccessful test of strength in Congress did not force Lincoln to abandon political activity. The conflicts politically awakened Lincoln and spurred him to action. In 1856, he joined the Republicans and assumed the role of leader in Illinois. The composition of the party could not be more heterogeneous: anti-slavery Democrats, former Whigs, abolitionists, teetotalers and nativists formed a conglomerate, the basis of which was the goal of preventing the further spread of slavery. With the exception of the abolitionists, these groups did not advocate the abolition of slavery in areas where it already existed. For them, first of all, new territories, still "free land", were important. The Republican program was reduced to the well-known formula "Free land, free labor, freedom of speech, free man."
At this time, the political struggle within the United States was over the issue of undeveloped lands in the west of the country and the territories seized from other countries. The southern states, where the plantation slave economy flourished, wanted to extend slavery to new territories. The northern states, where there was no slavery, believed that these lands should go to free farmers and the industrial bourgeoisie. But the question of free land was only part of a more complex and important question for the United States about the future of the country as a whole: whether capitalist forms of property would develop in it or whether the plantation-slave-owning system of economy would prevail. The question of slavery was very acute. Throughout the civilized world, it was condemned and the slave trade was banned. The United States, which was so proud of its democracy, continued to secretly buy slaves and import them into the country.
The Negroes never put up with their terrible situation. They raised uprisings, fled to the North, but the planters of the South brutally suppressed the uprisings, rounded up the fleeing slaves like wild animals. In 1850 they won the right to hunt runaway slaves throughout the country. Advanced people sympathized with the struggle of the Negroes and advocated the abolition of slavery in the United States. The most resolute of them, united with the slaves, embarked on the path of armed struggle against the slave owners. So, in 1859, John Brown, having created a small detachment of fugitives and blacks, tried to raise an uprising for the liberation of all the slaves of the South. But the local population did not support the rebels, John Brown was captured and executed.
Abraham Lincoln was a fierce opponent of slavery. "I hate slavery because slavery itself is unjust," Lincoln said. But as a politician, he understood that attempts to put an end to the shameful phenomenon by drastic measures would only lead to war and the collapse of the state. Close he admitted that the question of the abolition of slavery and the preservation of the Union of States is for him the most difficult problem. Therefore, in his political statements, he was extremely cautious.
With growing anxiety, Lincoln watched the events of "Bloody Kansas", where supporters and opponents of slavery unleashed a guerrilla war. He was deeply indignant that the Supreme Court, in its 1857 Dreid-Scott verdict, explicitly justified slavery and thereby effectively abolished the Missouri Compromise. When prominent Illinois Democratic senator Stephen E. Douglas, chief executive of the Kansas-Nebraska law, wanted to run for office in 1858. Lincoln was the opposition Republican candidate. The public debates of both politicians attracted tens of thousands of people: the masses came, partly even by special trains, to listen to verbal duels held in seven cities of Illinois between "Little Giant" Douglas (1.62 m) and "Tall Skin" Lincoln (1.9 m) . Lincoln lost the election, but through a battle of words that revolved mainly around slavery, he gained national attention and gained important political advantages for his later career. Lincoln's speech, the slogan of which was taken from the New Testament (Matthew 12:25): "And every house divided against itself shall not stand", especially deeply penetrated into the public consciousness.
Her main thesis was that the United States could not permanently endure the existence of slavery and a free society, and that Americans were therefore forced to choose one system or the other. When Douglas accused his rival of abolitionism. Lincoln countered with a conspiracy theory that powerful Democrats, including President Buchanan, wanted to expand slavery first to new territories and then to the entire union. Lincoln knew that there was no hard evidence for this, but he deliberately made the accusation part of his campaign strategy, which even then, as he himself admitted, had a long-term perspective. Douglas was able to defend the senator's seat against Lincoln because of his experience and advocacy for the principle of "sovereignty of the people", which left the decision to admit or abolish slavery to the discretion of the states and territories. At some points he went so far to meet his president that his popularity in the South plummeted. The debate, however, made clear what divided the two: unlike Douglas, Lincoln considered slavery to be an evil, which he rejected.
Lincoln believed that the preservation of the Union was more important than all other problems. "Despite the fact that I hate slavery, I would rather agree to its expansion than see the union fall apart," he said. The prospect of a struggle between the South and the North of the country seemed to Lincoln like this: "A house destroyed by quarrels cannot stand. I am sure that the current government cannot be stable, remaining half slaveholding, half free. I do not expect the union to be dissolved, that the house will collapse , and I believe that the strife in it will cease. It will become either completely free or completely slave." Lincoln was confident in the possibility of a peaceful solution to the dispute between the North and the South. In his heart, he hoped that if slavery was limited only to the southern states, then gradually it would die out on its own. Slave labor led to the fact that the land was poorly cultivated and scanty, and planters, in order to profit from their farms, had to constantly expand the territories of their possessions.
Late 50s. 19th century was a turning point in Lincoln's life. Actively participating in political disputes, he gained wide popularity in the country. Speaking in various parts of the country, Lincoln proved himself to be an intelligent and cautious politician. He did not support the demand for the abolition of slavery and tried with all his might to prevent civil war. At the Chicago Republican Party Convention in May 1860, Lincoln was nominated for the presidency in the third round. As a compromise candidate with relatively few enemies, he skilfully outmaneuvered his well-known rivals William Seward and Salmon Chase. Hannibal Hamlin of Maine, a staunch opponent of slavery, became his associate and candidate for vice president. The Republican election program rejected slavery in the new territories, but did not demand its elimination in the southern states. She denounced the Buchanan administration's "sale of interests" to the South, promised a bill for the rapid settlement of the western regions, advocated looser citizenship provisions and improved infrastructure. Lincoln did not speak publicly during the campaign, but from Springfield he exercised well thought out leadership.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Party was split over the issue of slavery, with the northern wing voting for Douglas and the southern wing for John Breckinridge. And she really went to the polls with two candidates - a circumstance beneficial to Lincoln. Both parties waged their pre-election struggle not for specific content, but for more general values that the candidates embodied. "Honest Abe" Lincoln identified with those qualities that to this day make up his myth: diligence and work ethic, the honest modesty of a pioneer who rose from poverty and, without forgetting his origin and connection with the people, became a candidate for the highest office. . It represented not only social mobility, but honesty and the ability to stay true to oneself. These properties contrasted with the scandals and corruption of the Buchanan administration. The election campaign mobilized the American population to a degree never seen before. On November 6, 1860, participation in the elections for the first time exceeded 80 percent. Not surprisingly, Lincoln, who was attacked by Southern Democrats as an abolitionist and "black Republican", owes his election solely to the votes of the North, although he received 40% of the votes cast across the country, all of them, with a few exceptions, from densely populated northern states, so that with his 180 votes in the electoral college, even with the solidarity of the Democrats, he had an unattainable lead.
As president
Lincoln applied the protectionist system in the distribution of posts even more consistently than his predecessors. Already in the spring of 1861, 80 percent of the political posts previously controlled by the Democrats were occupied by the Republicans. Benevolence, justice to opponents, poise, humor and generosity of Lincoln made it possible to create a well-functioning government. When distributing posts in the cabinet, Lincoln showed great political dexterity: he gave the most important posts, such as the secretary of foreign affairs, the secretary of justice and the secretary of the treasury, to his former competitors - the Republicans William Seward, Edward Bates and Salmon Chase. The President skillfully maneuvered between the opinions of government ministers. He patiently listened to everyone, but always made the decision on his own.
Lincoln's election caused extreme uneasiness among Southerners, and the time before his inauguration in early March proved difficult for himself and for the entire nation. Even before that, some slave states threatened to secede if the Republicans won, and that's exactly what happened before Christmas. South Carolina was the first state to terminate its union with other states. Before February 1, 1861, the Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas secessions followed in the first wave. Decisions were made respectively by state conventions chosen by the people. While still in office, Buchanan allowed the seceding southern states to take possession of the federal fortifications, forts and arsenals of weapons located in their territories. Only two fortresses, one of them Fort Sumter, located on an island in front of the port of Charleston, remained in the possession of the union. In early February 1861, the seceding states proclaimed the "Confederate States of America" and made it president of former Senator and Secretary of War Jefferson Davis.
In an effort to restore national unity, and aware that the states of the "upper South" had so far behaved loyally, Lincoln in his inaugural speech on March 4 avoided harsh tones. He compared the demand for secession to anarchy, but reiterated that he had no intention of threatening slavery where it already existed. The president made it clear that he was not thinking about a military conflict, that the fate of the nation was in the hands of the southerners. They did not vow to forcibly destroy the union, while he himself swore to preserve, protect and protect it.
The Confederates paid little heed to Lincoln's call, and the latest grudging attempts at congressional mediation were unsuccessful. When the President refused to give Fort Sumter to the South, South Carolina troops responded on April 12 by shelling the fort. The civil war has begun. The following four states seceded urgently: Tennessee, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Virginia, whose capital, Richmond, also became the capital of the Confederacy. The border states of Kentucky, Missouri, Delaware, and Maryland - all slave states - wavered at first, but remained in the union after hesitation and internal discord. So, the 23 states of the union with about 22 million inhabitants were opposed by 11 confederate states, in which lived 5.5 million whites and exactly 3.5 million slaves.
As President Lincoln was the commander-in-chief of all the armed forces, this required a lot of his time and energy. Other than a brief stint as a captain in the Black Falcon War, he had no military experience. However, during the war, he developed very soon the ability to assess the strategic situation and the necessary operational actions. As a first measure, he called on all the states of the union to mobilize 75,000 volunteers with whom he wanted to crush the "rebellion". The population in the North responded to this call with great enthusiasm. On April 19, Lincoln ordered a naval blockade to paralyze Confederate trade and stop the importation of military supplies from Europe.
On the battlefield, the better trained and led troops of the southern states dealt heavy blows to the alliance. After the defeat at Bull Run in Virginia, where northern troops were put to flight by the Confederates in July, Lincoln demanded an increase in troops to 500,000. The hope of quickly forcing the rebels to surrender gave way to a realistic assessment that a long and brutal war lay ahead. Lincoln called General McClelan to Washington to reorganize the demoralized troops, and in November made "the new Napoleons" his commander - a choice that proved problematic. Thanks to the cautious and expectant actions of General Lincoln came under political pressure from his own ranks. The population wanted to finally see victories , and besides, McClelan belonged to the Democratic Party, which further strengthened the skepticism, primarily of the radical Republicans.
Naturally, military operations were crucial to the progress of the war. From Lincoln's point of view, it was very important to find a cohesive political concept that would give meaning to this struggle. It was relatively easy for the Confederate government in this regard: the southern states fought for their independence, the preservation of their slave-based social system, and the defense of their own territory. The North fought for the principle: for the unity of the nation - and only later, and secondarily, for the elimination of slavery.
In 1862, the government introduced new taxes on the rich and passed a law to confiscate the property of the rebels. On May 20, 1862, a law was passed giving the right to every US citizen who had 10 dollars to receive a 160-acre plot of land in the West (the law on homesteads). Five years later, the site passed into the full ownership of the settler. This law was of great importance for the outcome of the won. Farmers and workers, who had fought for this law for decades, believed their government.
The only acceptable solution for the President was for the seceding Southern states to revoke their declaration of independence and return to the union—that would open up, as Lincoln unequivocally put it, scope for negotiating the issue of slavery. First of all, it was important for him to preserve the nation, although he had a natural dislike for the southern social system. On August 22, 1862, he answered the radical Republican publisher of the New York Tribune, Horace Grill, when asked why he was delaying the emancipation of the slaves: “My highest goal in this struggle is to preserve the union, not to preserve or abolish slavery. If I could save union without freeing a single slave, I would do it, and if I could save him by freeing all the slaves, I would do it, and if I could save him by freeing some slaves and not freeing others, I would do this. What I do in the matter of slavery and for the colored race, I do because I believe it will help to keep the union... By this I have explained here my intention, which I regard as an official duty. And I do not intend to change my often expressed personal desire, that all people everywhere should be free."
A few weeks after this letter, on September 22, 1862, when the troops of the southern states were forced to withdraw from Maryland after the Battle of Anteitham, Lincoln considered that the moment had come for the promulgation of a long overdue decision: he issued a provisional declaration of freedom, according to which all slaves, those who were after January 1, 1863 in the "rebellious states" were declared free. This geographical restriction was to ensure the loyalty of the population in the border states and in the already occupied areas. It also meant a concession to the moderate electors in the North, for whom the abolition of slavery was not a motive for war, but who understood that this step could facilitate the victory of the union.
Part of the radical republicans criticized the declaration, arguing that it freed slaves where they could not be freed at the moment, namely, in enemy territory, and did not free where it was possible, namely in the occupied areas and in border states that joined the union. This certainly apt argument, however, could not hide the symbolic explosive power of the declaration, which directly or indirectly brought freedom to almost three million slaves.
In foreign policy, Lincoln's declaration deprived the governments of England and France of any opportunity to enter the war on the side of the Confederacy. Since now it was a war "for" or "against" slavery, the public in both countries, which had long ago abolished slavery in their colonial areas, clearly took the side of the northern states. Lincoln was well aware that the declaration of freedom did not have a solid constitutional and legal basis. Only a correctly issued addition to the constitution could finally decide the fate of slavery even before the end of the war. Without this step, the slave owners could legally claim back their "property" - that is, freed slaves, since the declaration was valid only as a military measure. Therefore, Lincoln did everything in his power to hasten the ratification of the 13th amendment to the constitution issued by Congress on the final abolition of slavery by the individual states.
The President also showed himself as a talented diplomat. A striking example is the so-called "Trent case". Aboard the English ship Trent, two Confederate diplomats were on their way to Britain and France to persuade the Europeans to help the South. However, the English ship was detained by the northerners, and the envoys of the southerners were arrested. The British government regarded the actions of the northerners as an insult. Lincoln understood that the entry of the British on the side of the South was unacceptable, and released the diplomats. The threat of war with Great Britain was gone.
By his actions against the opponents of the war in the North and by the interim declaration of freedom, Lincoln provided the Democrats with enough arguments to fight in the upcoming congressional elections. In the meantime, a popular settlement law had already been passed that made it easier for farmers in the West to acquire land, but the recent defeats of the union troops, combined with a decline in production and rapidly rising inflation, led to losses in the Republican Party. Democrats protested Lincoln's overly arbitrary interpretation of the constitution, using the campaign slogan "For the constitution as it is and for the union as it was" and demanded the return of the seceding states without the abolition of slavery. Although the Republican lead in the House of Representatives fell from 35 to 18 seats, they retained their majority in both houses of Congress.
In January 1863, the Democrats stepped up their attacks on Lincoln and his style of warfare and demanded peace negotiations with the Confederates. On the basis of such public statements, the leading leader of this movement, Rep. Wallandigham of Ohio, was arrested and sentenced by court martial to imprisonment. Lincoln, however, allowed him to leave the union and go south. The president's cancellation of the Habeas Cogrus guarantee even affected politics in this case. Such measures were taken more than once, but this did not lead to the suppression of opposition to the Lincoln administration in the North. A new internal political spark was the military obligation, introduced for the first time in the history of the United States on March 3, 1863. Particularly controversial were the provisions that allowed wealthy Americans to put in their place figureheads and pay off military service. Tensions increased in the cities, and in July 1863 riots and street fighting broke out, suppressed with the use of military force. In these protests, more than 100 people died, among them many blacks who fell victim to lynching.
Only in the summer of 1863 did the North manage to effectively use its huge material and numerical advantage. The turning point came in July 1863 at the Battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania, where two armies totaling 160,000 soldiers clashed, of whom more than a quarter died three days later. The Union troops could hardly hold out, and the Confederates, under the leadership of General Robert E. Lee, were forced to retreat to Virginia. Almost simultaneously, Union forces under General Ulysses Grant made headway on the western front and captured the fortified city of Vicksburg on the Mississippi. Now the entire Mississippi Valley was in the hands of the North, and the Confederacy was cut in two from north to south.
On November 19, 1863, at Gettysburg, Lincoln gave his most famous speech, the Gettysburg Address, which entered world literature, on the occasion of the opening of a large military cemetery. The President used the sad occasion to put into words long-cherished thoughts about the meaning of war. Over the graves of the dead, he defined the meaning of the civil war in ten sentences. Using brilliant language, he focused on the founding phase of the nation and on the basic democratic values for which the United States is responsible: the equality of all people, their right to freedom and popular government. He emphasized the commonality of the sacrifices made by the northern and southern states, and ended with a solemn promise "that these dead did not die in vain, that this nation, with God's help, will experience a revival of freedom, and that the rule of the people, by the people and for the people, will never disappear from the face of earth".
In March 1864, Lincoln named Grant commander-in-chief, in whom he finally found a convincing military leader. Together with William Sherman and Philip Sheridan, Grant carried out the Lincoln Plan, a large-scale and well-coordinated offensive. Lincoln himself, who used to sit late into the night over military books borrowed from the library of Congress, developed for the United States an entirely new concept of high command, according to which his Chief of the General Staff (Halleck), Secretary of War (Stenton replaced Cameron) and Commander in Chief (Grant) received directives from him. Lincoln's military genius, combined with an undogmatic approach to the complex, new problems of modern warfare, was later appreciated many times over.
The 1864 presidential election went down in American history as one of the most important. The people had to decide whether to continue the war or not - the administration formed by the Democrats had to offer peace to the South. Rivalry within the Republican camp and the emergence of influential contenders for the presidency, most notably Treasury Secretary Salmon Chase, made it difficult to say for sure whether Lincoln would be re-elected. In addition, one term in office has become almost a political tradition; after Andrew Jackson, not a single president managed to get into the White House for the second time. In July, Lincoln was chosen as the candidate of the Union Party, but still had doubts about his re-election. The mood in the North was inclined towards a compromise solution, and therefore the victory of the Democrats, whose candidate was none other than General McClelan, dismissed by Lincoln at the end of 1862, was not ruled out.
Victory in battle proved to be decisive: the capture of Atlanta in Georgia by Union forces under General Sherman on September 2, 1864, dramatically changed the public mood, calmed Republican internal party differences, and pushed the Democratic Party with its promoted peace proposal into a political impasse. Lincoln's victory could be seen as a clear mandate to continue the war and completely free the slaves. The president quickly submitted the 13th amendment to the constitution to Congress, where it was passed by the required two-thirds majority.
By the time the president was re-instated, the civil war was almost won. In his second inaugural address on March 4, 1865, Lincoln again touched upon the topics of the Gettysburg Address and extended the hand of reconciliation to the southern states: to strive to complete the work we have begun; to bandage the wounds of the nation ... to do everything that can give and preserve a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations. This is how he outlined his position towards the reintegration of the southern states: indulgence and reconciliation, and not punishment and retribution, should determine the post-war phase.
Meanwhile, Grant's attack on Richmond, and Sherman's even more notorious "rush to the sea," which left traces of devastation in its wake, demoralized the Confederacy and marked the beginning of its defeat. At first, Lincoln was skeptical about Sherman's plans because, like Grant, he did not understand the "scorched earth" strategic principle that gave the final phase of the war a "total" character. On April 9, 1865, General Lee surrendered with his army in Virginia, and a few weeks later, the remnants of the troops of the South stopped fighting.
Re-election and assassination
On November 8, 1864, in the next election, Lincoln was elected president for a second term. Despite the objections of a number of politicians and his own doubts, Abraham Lincoln defeated his Democratic rival, General J. B. McClellan. Lincoln believed that the emancipation of slaves should be legally enforceable. At his insistence, on January 31, 1865, Congress adopted the XIIIth Amendment to the Constitution, which prohibited slavery in the United States and came into force after its ratification by the states in December of that year. The American Civil War is over, but the President has become one of the last victims of this bloody war. On April 14, 1865, while the country was celebrating victory in Washington, DC, at Ford's Theatre, Abraham Lincoln was shot in the head. Having committed the atrocity, the killer, actor John Boots, a fanatical supporter of the southerners, jumped onto the stage and shouted: "This is how tyrants die. The South is avenged!"
Lincoln's death literally shocked the whole world. An endless stream of people went to the White House to say goodbye to the man who brought the country out of the gravest crisis, rallying supporters of the country's unity and the abolition of slavery. Millions of Americans, white and black, came to pay their last respects to their president during the two and a half week funeral train journey from Washington to Springfield, where Lincoln was buried in Oak Ridge Cemetery. The tragic death of Lincoln in many ways contributed to the creation around his name of the halo of a martyr who died for the emancipation of slaves.
The memory of Lincoln is immortalized in a memorial opened in the American capital in 1922. Inside this white marble structure, the sculptor D. C. French placed a six-meter statue of the liberating president sitting in thought.
© Book Club "Family Leisure Club", edition in Russian, 2012
© Book Club "Family Leisure Club", decoration, 2012
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On the Threshold of the Age of Miracles
Jules Verne, the great French writer and humanist, was born in 1828 in the wealthy port city of Nantes in the family of a lawyer. When he was twenty, his parents sent the young man to Paris, where he was supposed to receive a law degree. However, their hopes were not justified. The young Jules Verne turned out to be one of those whom, much later in the novel The Children of Captain Grant, he called "the smiths of his own destiny." A year later, he left school and took up literature. At that time, he wrote vaudeville and comedies in verse, collaborated in popular magazines. A whole decade of half-starved and unsettled life in the attic, without a penny, but with unquenchable faith in his lucky star.
In the autumn of 1862, the writer's first novel, Five Weeks in a Balloon, was published, which immediately won recognition and was translated into all European languages. The first novel was followed by real masterpieces - Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864), From the Earth to the Moon (1865), Captain Grant's Children (1868), 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1870), Around the World in 80 days" (1872), "The Mysterious Island" (1875) and "The Fifteen-Year-Old Captain" (1878), which brought Jules Verne worldwide fame.
The book that you are holding in your hands is one of those that today are called "cult". "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" literally fascinated young contemporaries, served as a source of inspiration for scientists, inventors and travelers. Ideas and scientific predictions scattered across its pages, after several decades with incredible accuracy, turned into reality, forcing again and again to be surprised at the writer's foresight. No wonder Jules Verne himself noted: "What one person is able to imagine in his imagination, others are quite capable of bringing to life."
It is usually believed that all the books of Jules Verne can be divided into "novels about science" and "novels about extraordinary travels", but in fact the writer created a completely new kind of literature - a fairy tale, in which belief in the omnipotence of knowledge replaced belief in miracles. and strength of the human spirit.
What was the impetus for the creation of "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea"? Everyone who goes to the open sea is shaken by two abysses: the sky above his head and the incomprehensible depth under the keel. Jules Verne was the first to use his powerful imagination to penetrate the depths of the oceans. But first, he studied all the existing and fictional underwater vehicles. The submarine was designed by Leonardo da Vinci and depicted in 1627 by the English philosopher Francis Bacon in the utopia New Atlantis. Since antiquity, a diving bell has been known, a kind of bathyscaphe, in which one could briefly dive to shallow depths. With his help, the English writer Daniel Defoe, author of The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, tried to lift cargo from sunken ships, but failed. In 1797, engineer-inventor Robert Fulton designed the first Nautilus submarine, followed by the Nautilus II and Nautilus III projects, and finally, in 1800, Fulton's submarine sailed under water for almost half a kilometer at a depth of about eight meters. The boat was propelled by oars, it was driven by two sailors. However, the world remembered another "Nautilus" - created by the imagination of a French writer.
But Jules Verne's Nautilus was only a means of penetrating the depths. And what is there where no mortal has looked? Is it true that giant monsters live there? Are countless treasures really buried at the bottom of the sea? Is it true that the ocean holds an inexhaustible supply of minerals and food for all mankind? The secrets of the underwater world, still completely unexplored at that time, opened up endless possibilities for the science fiction writer - and he used them in full in his novel.
However, a hero was needed who would reveal these secrets to the reader. Who is he? How and why did you end up underwater? Looking into the depths of the sea, Jules Verne came to the conclusion that the underwater world keeps not only the secrets of nature, but also human secrets. But what if there is someone hiding there, in the depths, from the world of people? In fact, there is no better place to hide!
So, almost for the first time in the history of the adventure genre, there was a prototype of the "superheroes" so popular today - Captain Nemo. Shrouded in a halo of mystery, brilliantly gifted, half a century ahead of his time, but opposing the whole world, possessing unheard of technical power, Nemo is at the same time a living and suffering person, experiencing a serious inner drama. In love with the sea, he is convinced that only there a person will get rid of cruelty and injustice and will be able to live a truly free life.
Captain Nemo is a man of mystery. Pride, determination, iron will, alienation coexist in him - and mercy, the ability to deeply and violently experience, to experience a keen interest in nature and history. The personality of the hero is distinguished by incredible wealth - Nemo is a brilliant scientist, engineer and designer, explorer of the ocean, connoisseur of art and literature. His collections on the legendary "Nautilus" contain masterpieces of painting, literature, poetry, he speaks many languages and is a connoisseur of music and an outstanding performer. At the same time, his past is covered with an impenetrable veil of secrecy, which is only partially revealed in the novel.
The combination of amazing adventures and the deepest human drama is the reason why the novel "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" is rightfully considered the pinnacle of Jules Verne's work, a true gem of literature.
For forty years, since 1862, the writer published 66 books. But even death could not silence him. The creative baggage of Jules Verne was so great that for another five years after his death, every six months, readers opened new volume"Extraordinary Journeys", and the last book of the writer - "Paris in the 20th century" - was published only in 1994.
According to UNESCO, by the beginning of the 21st century, Jules Verne had become the most "translated" writer on earth - his books continue to be published regularly in 138 languages.
Part 1
1
wandering reef
Many captains and shipowners remember the year 1866 with amazing events. From some time on, seafarers began to meet in the open ocean a long spindle-shaped object glowing in the dark, surpassing the size and speed of movement of the largest whale.
It is easy to imagine how minds were excited by this unusual phenomenon, although some people tried to declare the sailors' reports empty fiction.
However, on July 20, 1866, the ship "Governor Higginson" met at sea five miles from eastern shores Australia a giant dark floating mass. The captain decided that in front of him was an uncharted reef, and began to determine the coordinates, but then two columns of water burst out of the depths of the dark mass and flew up into the air for fifty meters. This phenomenon was very similar to the fountains that marine mammals throw out of their nostrils.
On July 23 of the same year, something similar was observed in the waters of the Pacific Ocean from the steamer Christopher Columbus, two and a half thousand kilometers from Australia.
And fifteen days later, eight thousand kilometers from this place, the steamships Helvetia and Shannon, meeting in the Atlantic Ocean on the way between America and Europe, discovered a mysterious monster at a point with coordinates 42 ° 15' north latitude and 60 ° 35' west longitude.
These reports have greatly alarmed and interested the public. The sea monster became fashionable: they sang about it in cafes, they made fun of it in the newspapers, it was portrayed comically on the stage. In scientific societies and in the pages of special journals, a furious controversy broke out between believers and unbelievers, streams of ink and printing ink and even a few drops of blood were spilled, since in one case the dispute ended in a rapier duel.
By the beginning of 1867, the question of the new-born sea giant seemed to be buried with no hope of resurrection. But here new facts appeared. And this time it was no longer a scientific problem, but a real danger.
On March 5, 1867, the Canadian steamer Moravia crashed at full speed into an underwater rock that was not marked on any charts. The blow was so strong that, if not for the strength of the ship's hull, everything would have ended in the death of the ship, crew and passengers.
The collision occurred at about five o'clock in the morning with complete calm. The officers of the watch rushed to the stern, but did not find anything suspicious, except for the center of excitement at a distance of three cable lengths from the ship. Having determined the coordinates, the Moravia continued on its way, never finding out what it encountered. One way or another, but upon arrival at the port, it turned out that part of the ship's keel was badly damaged.
Three weeks later, everything was repeated with the greatest accuracy, but this time the affected ship belonged to the largest shipping company, and the case received wide publicity.
On April 13, 1867, the steamship Scotland, owned by the Cunard Line, was at 15° 12' West, 45° 37' North. The sea was calm, a light breeze was blowing. The wheels of the steamer cut through the waves of the sea.
At 4:17 p.m., the ship's hull shuddered from a light blow to the stern. By the nature of the push, it could be assumed that the blow was caused by some kind of sharp object, while it was so weak that no one would have paid attention to it if the stokers had not soon reported to the bridge about a leak in the hold.
At first the passengers were alarmed, but Captain Anderson reassured them. For the ship, divided by watertight bulkheads into seven compartments, a small hole did not pose a serious danger. Nevertheless, the captain immediately went down into the hold and found that the fifth compartment was completely flooded with water.
Anderson ordered the cars to stop and ordered one of the sailors to go down into the water and inspect the hole. It soon became clear that the hole in the underwater part of the Scottish side was about two meters wide. It was not possible to close it at sea, and the ship, which had sunk deep into the water, continued on its way and reached the port of Liverpool three days late.
The ship was docked and the company's engineers inspected it. In the hull, two and a half meters below the waterline, there was a gaping hole in the form of a neat isosceles triangle. Its edges were as smooth as if a hole had been made with a chisel, and the tool, which pierced four centimeters of sheet steel, must have had fantastic strength. And at the same time, it freed itself from the hole!
Since that time, all talk of some kind of “wandering reef” has ceased, and all maritime disasters, the causes of which remained unclear, were now attributed to the sea monster. The mysterious giant had to answer for a lot - because of the three thousand ships sinking annually, about two hundred are considered missing.
One way or another, but communication between Europe and America was under threat, and the public, in unison with the newspapers, demanded that the ocean be cleared of the formidable monster at any cost.
2
"Pros and cons"
It was at this time that I, Pierre Aronnax, professor at the Paris Museum of Natural History, was returning from a trip to North America. Having collected magnificent collections during the six months of the expedition, I arrived in New York at the end of March. I planned to leave for France in the first days of May, and devoted the rest of the time until my departure to the classification of my treasures - minerals, samples of plants and animals.
Of course, I was aware of the events that so alarmed the public, as I read all the American and European newspapers. Now some journalists attributed all the troubles to an animal of colossal size, others suggested that the culprit of the collisions was an underwater vessel with an unheard of powerful engine.
But who and where could build such a ship? Only a powerful state today is capable of something like this. Today, when the human mind excels in inventing deadly weapons, it is easy to imagine that one of the countries secretly built and tested some formidable machine.
However, the governments of all the major powers unanimously declared their non-participation in such projects, and this was true. That is why the notorious monster has resurfaced, to which the tabloid press has given the most ridiculous and fantastic features.
Upon returning to New York, I was repeatedly invited for consultations on this burning issue. In France, I published a two-volume book under the general title "Secrets of the Deep Seas." This book made me famous as a specialist in a little-studied branch of natural history. I was asked to express my opinion, but I did not have any facts at my disposal, and I did not put forward any versions, citing ignorance. But one day, literally cornered by New York Herald reporters, I finally gave in.
“So,” I wrote, “having weighed all the hypotheses one by one, I am forced to admit the existence of a marine animal with great power.
Let's reason logically. We do not yet know all the species of animals that inhabit our planet. Therefore, it is quite possible to assume that unknown fish or cetaceans live in the depths of the ocean, adapted to life under conditions of enormous pressure and only from time to time emerge to the surface of the ocean.
On the other hand, this animal may belong to one of the already known species, in which case I am ready to admit the existence of a "giant narwhal".
The common narwhal, a mammal of the narwhal family, often reaches 15 meters in length. Multiply its dimensions tenfold, endow the animal with a force proportional to its mass, increase the tusk accordingly - and you get a monster! And it is precisely such that is capable of ramming the board of an ocean-going steamer.
In fact, the narwhal is armed with a kind of bone spear, which has the hardness of steel. Traces of wounds were repeatedly found on the body of whales, which the narwhal often attacks. It happened that fragments of the narwhal tusk were removed from the wooden hulls of ships, which they pierce through. Now imagine a tusk ten times larger, an animal ten times stronger, imagine it moving at thirty miles an hour, multiply the mass of the animal by the speed, and the cause of the Scotland disaster will become clear.
In a word, I am inclined to believe that we are dealing with a marine unicorn of gigantic proportions, armed with a formidable ram, like some warships.
My article became popular, I even got like-minded people.
But if for some this mysterious story was of purely scientific interest, then for practical people interested in the safety of transoceanic communications, the need to rid the seas of a terrible beast was obvious. It got to the point that insurance companies sharply increased the rates of payments, citing a new danger to sailors.
And soon preparations began in New York for an expedition whose goal was to destroy or capture the giant narwhal. The high-speed frigate "Abraham Lincoln" was supposed to go to sea in the near future. For his captain, John Faragut, military stores were opened, and he hastily equipped his ship with the most modern weapons.
But, as happens all the time, just when it came down to it, the animal suddenly disappeared. For two whole months there was not a word or a word about him. The unicorn seemed to sense that a military operation was being prepared against him. The frigate was fully equipped, equipped with the best whaling equipment, but no one knew where to go. It was not until the second of July that the telegraph brought a rumor that a steamer sailing between San Francisco and Shanghai had encountered a gigantic animal three weeks earlier in the waters of the North Pacific Ocean.
In twenty-four hours food was loaded aboard the Abraham Lincoln, and the holds were filled to overflowing with coal. It remained only to part the couples and give the mooring lines.
And three hours before the departure of the Abraham Lincoln, I was urgently delivered a letter with the following content:
"Honorable Sir!
If you deign to join the expedition on the frigate Abraham Lincoln, the government of the United States of America will experience deep satisfaction, because in your person France will take part in an important enterprise for both countries. Captain Faragut has been notified and will provide you with a cabin at your full disposal.
Wholly devoted to you,
Secretary of the Navy D. B. Hobson.
3
"As the Professor pleases"
Until that moment, I had not even thought about hunting for a sea unicorn. I had just returned from an expedition, tired and in need of rest. I dreamed of being at home, where my friends and my precious collections were. But nothing could keep me from participating in the expedition. Everything was forgotten in an instant! Without hesitation, I accepted the offer of the American government.
- Conseil! I shouted impatiently.
Conseil was my servant and assistant and accompanied me everywhere. I was attached to him, and he reciprocated me. Phlegmatic, respectable, diligent, philosophical about any trouble, he was a jack of all trades, and as he moved around my colleagues, he himself learned something.
Since I was thirty years old, Conseil has accompanied me on all expeditions for a whole decade. He was ready at any moment to go anywhere, even to China, even to the Congo, and at the same time he was distinguished by enviable health, strong muscles and, as it seemed, nerves of steel.
True, Conseil had one drawback: he invariably addressed me in the third person, a manner that irritated me greatly.
- Conseil! I called a second time, settling down with feverish haste.
- Mr. Professor, deigned to call me? my servant asked as he entered.
- Yes, my friend, start packing my things and yours. We're leaving in two hours.
"As the Professor pleases," Conseil replied imperturbably.
- Put my travel accessories, suits, shirts, socks in a suitcase, and live!
“And the collections of Mr. Professor?” Conseil asked.
“We'll deal with them later. They will remain in storage at the hotel. I will arrange for them to be sent to France.
Are we not going to Paris?
- In general, yes, but you have to make a little detour. In other words, we're sailing on the frigate Abraham Lincoln to hunt for the notorious narwhal, which you've probably heard of. Can the author of "Secrets of the Deep Sea" refuse to participate in such an expedition?
“Where Mr. Professor is, there I am,” said Conseil.
A quarter of an hour later, the suitcases were packed, and the bellboy carried our things to the hotel lobby. I paid the bill, arranged for my bales of samples to be sent to France, and Conseil and I jumped into a hired carriage.
An hour later we were in the Port of Brooklyn, where the Abraham Lincoln was moored under steam. I ran up the ladder on board, introduced myself to the captain, a courageous officer with excellent bearing, and found out where the cabin provided for us was.
The Abraham Lincoln was a fast frigate equipped with the most advanced steam engines, which allowed her to reach speeds in excess of eighteen nautical miles per hour. Interior decoration vessel was in keeping with its seaworthiness. Our cabin was located in the aft part of the frigate, a short passage connected it with the wardroom.
I left Conseil to unpack my suitcases, and went up on deck myself. Just at that moment, Captain Faragut ordered to give up the ends. If I were a quarter of an hour late, I would not have been able to participate in an expedition, the most reliable description of which may seem like an incredible fiction.
The Abraham Lincoln sailed majestically from the pier and headed down the East River, accompanied by a hundred boats and tugboats that arranged a solemn send-off for the expedition. The waterfronts of Brooklyn were full of people.
At three o'clock in the afternoon the pilot left the navigational bridge and went down into the boat. The captain gave the command to raise steam; propeller blades cut through the water faster and faster, and by eight o'clock in the evening the coastal lights disappeared from view.
Now the frigate was at full speed through the dark waters of the Atlantic.
Current page: 1 (the book has a total of 16 pages) [available reading excerpt: 11 pages]
Jules Verne
20,000 leagues under the sea
© Book Club "Family Leisure Club", edition in Russian, 2012
© Book Club "Family Leisure Club", artwork, 2012
* * *
On the Threshold of the Age of Miracles
Jules Verne, the great French writer and humanist, was born in 1828 in the wealthy port city of Nantes in the family of a lawyer. When he was twenty, his parents sent the young man to Paris, where he was supposed to receive a law degree. However, their hopes were not justified. The young Jules Verne turned out to be one of those whom, much later in the novel The Children of Captain Grant, he called "the smiths of his own destiny." A year later, he left school and took up literature. At that time, he wrote vaudeville and comedies in verse, collaborated in popular magazines. A whole decade of half-starved and unsettled life in the attic, without a penny, but with unquenchable faith in his lucky star.
In the autumn of 1862, the writer's first novel, Five Weeks in a Balloon, was published, which immediately won recognition and was translated into all European languages. The first novel was followed by real masterpieces - Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864), From the Earth to the Moon (1865), Captain Grant's Children (1868), 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1870), Around the World in 80 days" (1872), "The Mysterious Island" (1875) and "The Fifteen-Year-Old Captain" (1878), which brought Jules Verne worldwide fame.
The book that you are holding in your hands is one of those that today are called "cult". "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" literally fascinated young contemporaries, served as a source of inspiration for scientists, inventors and travelers. Ideas and scientific predictions scattered across its pages, after several decades with incredible accuracy, turned into reality, forcing again and again to be surprised at the writer's foresight. No wonder Jules Verne himself noted: "What one person is able to imagine in his imagination, others are quite capable of bringing to life."
It is usually believed that all the books of Jules Verne can be divided into "novels about science" and "novels about extraordinary travels", but in fact the writer created a completely new kind of literature - a fairy tale, in which belief in the omnipotence of knowledge replaced belief in miracles. and strength of the human spirit.
What was the impetus for the creation of "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea"? Everyone who goes to the open sea is shaken by two abysses: the sky above his head and the incomprehensible depth under the keel. Jules Verne was the first to use his powerful imagination to penetrate the depths of the oceans. But first, he studied all the existing and fictional underwater vehicles. The submarine was designed by Leonardo da Vinci and depicted in 1627 by the English philosopher Francis Bacon in the utopia New Atlantis. Since antiquity, a diving bell has been known, a kind of bathyscaphe, in which one could briefly dive to shallow depths. With his help, the English writer Daniel Defoe, author of The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, tried to lift cargo from sunken ships, but failed. In 1797, engineer-inventor Robert Fulton designed the first Nautilus submarine, followed by the Nautilus II and Nautilus III projects, and finally, in 1800, Fulton's submarine sailed under water for almost half a kilometer at a depth of about eight meters. The boat was propelled by oars, it was driven by two sailors. However, the world remembered another "Nautilus" - created by the imagination of a French writer.
But Jules Verne's Nautilus was only a means of penetrating the depths. And what is there where no mortal has looked? Is it true that giant monsters live there? Are countless treasures really buried at the bottom of the sea? Is it true that the ocean holds an inexhaustible supply of minerals and food for all mankind? The secrets of the underwater world, still completely unexplored at that time, opened up endless possibilities for the science fiction writer - and he used them in full in his novel.
However, a hero was needed who would reveal these secrets to the reader. Who is he? How and why did you end up underwater? Looking into the depths of the sea, Jules Verne came to the conclusion that the underwater world keeps not only the secrets of nature, but also human secrets. But what if there is someone hiding there, in the depths, from the world of people? In fact, there is no better place to hide!
So, almost for the first time in the history of the adventure genre, there was a prototype of the "superheroes" so popular today - Captain Nemo. Shrouded in a halo of mystery, brilliantly gifted, half a century ahead of his time, but opposing the whole world, possessing unheard of technical power, Nemo is at the same time a living and suffering person, experiencing a serious inner drama. In love with the sea, he is convinced that only there a person will get rid of cruelty and injustice and will be able to live a truly free life.
Captain Nemo is a man of mystery. Pride, determination, iron will, alienation coexist in him - and mercy, the ability to deeply and violently experience, to experience a keen interest in nature and history. The personality of the hero is distinguished by incredible wealth - Nemo is a brilliant scientist, engineer and designer, explorer of the ocean, connoisseur of art and literature. His collections on the legendary "Nautilus" contain masterpieces of painting, literature, poetry, he speaks many languages and is a connoisseur of music and an outstanding performer. At the same time, his past is covered with an impenetrable veil of secrecy, which is only partially revealed in the novel.
The combination of amazing adventures and the deepest human drama is the reason why the novel "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" is rightfully considered the pinnacle of Jules Verne's work, a true gem of literature.
For forty years, since 1862, the writer published 66 books. But even death could not silence him. Jules Verne's creative baggage was so great that for five years after his death, every six months, readers opened a new volume of Extraordinary Journeys, and the writer's last book, Paris in the 20th Century, was published only in 1994.
According to UNESCO, by the beginning of the 21st century, Jules Verne had become the most "translated" writer on earth - his books continue to be published regularly in 138 languages.
Part 1
1
wandering reef
Many captains and shipowners remember the year 1866 with amazing events. From some time on, seafarers began to meet in the open ocean a long spindle-shaped object glowing in the dark, surpassing the size and speed of movement of the largest whale.
It is easy to imagine how minds were excited by this unusual phenomenon, although some people tried to declare the sailors' reports empty fiction.
However, on July 20, 1866, the ship Governor Higginson encountered a giant dark floating mass at sea five miles off the eastern coast of Australia. The captain decided that in front of him was an uncharted reef, and began to determine the coordinates, but then two columns of water burst out of the depths of the dark mass and flew up into the air for fifty meters. This phenomenon was very similar to the fountains that marine mammals throw out of their nostrils.
On July 23 of the same year, something similar was observed in the waters of the Pacific Ocean from the steamer Christopher Columbus, two and a half thousand kilometers from Australia.
And fifteen days later, eight thousand kilometers from this place, the steamships Helvetia and Shannon, meeting in the Atlantic Ocean on the way between America and Europe, discovered a mysterious monster at a point with coordinates 42 ° 15' north latitude and 60 ° 35' west longitude.
These reports have greatly alarmed and interested the public. The sea monster became fashionable: they sang about it in cafes, they made fun of it in the newspapers, it was portrayed comically on the stage. In scientific societies and in the pages of special journals, a furious controversy broke out between believers and unbelievers, streams of ink and printing ink and even a few drops of blood were spilled, since in one case the dispute ended in a rapier duel.
By the beginning of 1867, the question of the new-born sea giant seemed to be buried with no hope of resurrection. But here new facts appeared. And this time it was no longer a scientific problem, but a real danger.
On March 5, 1867, the Canadian steamer Moravia crashed at full speed into an underwater rock that was not marked on any charts. The blow was so strong that, if not for the strength of the ship's hull, everything would have ended in the death of the ship, crew and passengers.
The collision occurred at about five o'clock in the morning with complete calm. The officers of the watch rushed to the stern, but did not find anything suspicious, except for the center of excitement at a distance of three cable lengths from the ship. Having determined the coordinates, the Moravia continued on its way, never finding out what it encountered. One way or another, but upon arrival at the port, it turned out that part of the ship's keel was badly damaged.
Three weeks later, everything was repeated with the greatest accuracy, but this time the affected ship belonged to the largest shipping company, and the case received wide publicity.
On April 13, 1867, the steamship Scotland, owned by the Cunard Line, was at 15° 12' West, 45° 37' North. The sea was calm, a light breeze was blowing. The wheels of the steamer cut through the waves of the sea.
At 4:17 p.m., the ship's hull shuddered from a light blow to the stern. By the nature of the push, it could be assumed that the blow was caused by some kind of sharp object, while it was so weak that no one would have paid attention to it if the stokers had not soon reported to the bridge about a leak in the hold.
At first the passengers were alarmed, but Captain Anderson reassured them. For the ship, divided by watertight bulkheads into seven compartments, a small hole did not pose a serious danger. Nevertheless, the captain immediately went down into the hold and found that the fifth compartment was completely flooded with water.
Anderson ordered the cars to stop and ordered one of the sailors to go down into the water and inspect the hole. It soon became clear that the hole in the underwater part of the Scottish side was about two meters wide. It was not possible to close it at sea, and the ship, which had sunk deep into the water, continued on its way and reached the port of Liverpool three days late.
The ship was docked and the company's engineers inspected it. In the hull, two and a half meters below the waterline, there was a gaping hole in the form of a neat isosceles triangle. Its edges were as smooth as if a hole had been made with a chisel, and the tool, which pierced four centimeters of sheet steel, must have had fantastic strength. And at the same time, it freed itself from the hole!
Since that time, all talk of some kind of “wandering reef” has ceased, and all maritime disasters, the causes of which remained unclear, were now attributed to the sea monster. The mysterious giant had to answer for a lot - because of the three thousand ships sinking annually, about two hundred are considered missing.
One way or another, but communication between Europe and America was under threat, and the public, in unison with the newspapers, demanded that the ocean be cleared of the formidable monster at any cost.
2
"Pros and cons"
It was at this time that I, Pierre Aronnax, professor at the Paris Museum of Natural History, was returning from a trip to North America. Having collected magnificent collections during the six months of the expedition, I arrived in New York at the end of March. I planned to leave for France in the first days of May, and devoted the rest of the time until my departure to the classification of my treasures - minerals, samples of plants and animals.
Of course, I was aware of the events that so alarmed the public, as I read all the American and European newspapers. Now some journalists attributed all the troubles to an animal of colossal size, others suggested that the culprit of the collisions was an underwater vessel with an unheard of powerful engine.
But who and where could build such a ship? Only a powerful state today is capable of something like this. Today, when the human mind excels in inventing deadly weapons, it is easy to imagine that one of the countries secretly built and tested some formidable machine.
However, the governments of all the major powers unanimously declared their non-participation in such projects, and this was true. That is why the notorious monster has resurfaced, to which the tabloid press has given the most ridiculous and fantastic features.
Upon returning to New York, I was repeatedly invited for consultations on this burning issue. In France, I published a two-volume book under the general title "Secrets of the Deep Seas." This book made me famous as a specialist in a little-studied branch of natural history. I was asked to express my opinion, but I did not have any facts at my disposal, and I did not put forward any versions, citing ignorance. But one day, literally cornered by New York Herald reporters, I finally gave in.
“So,” I wrote, “having weighed all the hypotheses one by one, I am forced to admit the existence of a marine animal with great power.
Let's reason logically. We do not yet know all the species of animals that inhabit our planet. Therefore, it is quite possible to assume that unknown fish or cetaceans live in the depths of the ocean, adapted to life under conditions of enormous pressure and only from time to time emerge to the surface of the ocean.
On the other hand, this animal may belong to one of the already known species, in which case I am ready to admit the existence of a "giant narwhal".
The common narwhal, a mammal of the narwhal family, often reaches 15 meters in length. Multiply its dimensions tenfold, endow the animal with a force proportional to its mass, increase the tusk accordingly - and you get a monster! And it is precisely such that is capable of ramming the board of an ocean-going steamer.
In fact, the narwhal is armed with a kind of bone spear, which has the hardness of steel. Traces of wounds were repeatedly found on the body of whales, which the narwhal often attacks. It happened that fragments of the narwhal tusk were removed from the wooden hulls of ships, which they pierce through. Now imagine a tusk ten times larger, an animal ten times stronger, imagine it moving at thirty miles an hour, multiply the mass of the animal by the speed, and the cause of the Scotland disaster will become clear.
In a word, I am inclined to believe that we are dealing with a marine unicorn of gigantic proportions, armed with a formidable ram, like some warships.
My article became popular, I even got like-minded people.
But if for some this mysterious story was of purely scientific interest, then for practical people interested in the safety of transoceanic communications, the need to rid the seas of a terrible beast was obvious. It got to the point that insurance companies sharply increased the rates of payments, citing a new danger to sailors.
And soon preparations began in New York for an expedition whose goal was to destroy or capture the giant narwhal. The high-speed frigate "Abraham Lincoln" was supposed to go to sea in the near future. For his captain, John Faragut, military stores were opened, and he hastily equipped his ship with the most modern weapons.
But, as happens all the time, just when it came down to it, the animal suddenly disappeared. For two whole months there was not a word or a word about him. The unicorn seemed to sense that a military operation was being prepared against him. The frigate was fully equipped, equipped with the best whaling equipment, but no one knew where to go. It was not until the second of July that the telegraph brought a rumor that a steamer sailing between San Francisco and Shanghai had encountered a gigantic animal three weeks earlier in the waters of the North Pacific Ocean.
In twenty-four hours food was loaded aboard the Abraham Lincoln, and the holds were filled to overflowing with coal. It remained only to part the couples and give the mooring lines.
And three hours before the departure of the Abraham Lincoln, I was urgently delivered a letter with the following content:
"Honorable Sir!
If you deign to join the expedition on the frigate Abraham Lincoln, the government of the United States of America will experience deep satisfaction, because in your person France will take part in an important enterprise for both countries. Captain Faragut has been notified and will provide you with a cabin at your full disposal.
Wholly devoted to you,
Secretary of the Navy D. B. Hobson.
3
"As the Professor pleases"
Until that moment, I had not even thought about hunting for a sea unicorn. I had just returned from an expedition, tired and in need of rest. I dreamed of being at home, where my friends and my precious collections were. But nothing could keep me from participating in the expedition. Everything was forgotten in an instant! Without hesitation, I accepted the offer of the American government.
- Conseil! I shouted impatiently.
Conseil was my servant and assistant and accompanied me everywhere. I was attached to him, and he reciprocated me. Phlegmatic, respectable, diligent, philosophical about any trouble, he was a jack of all trades, and as he moved around my colleagues, he himself learned something.
Since I was thirty years old, Conseil has accompanied me on all expeditions for a whole decade. He was ready at any moment to go anywhere, even to China, even to the Congo, and at the same time he was distinguished by enviable health, strong muscles and, as it seemed, nerves of steel.
True, Conseil had one drawback: he invariably addressed me in the third person, a manner that irritated me greatly.
- Conseil! I called a second time, settling down with feverish haste.
- Mr. Professor, deigned to call me? my servant asked as he entered.
- Yes, my friend, start packing my things and yours. We're leaving in two hours.
"As the Professor pleases," Conseil replied imperturbably.
- Put my travel accessories, suits, shirts, socks in a suitcase, and live!
“And the collections of Mr. Professor?” Conseil asked.
“We'll deal with them later. They will remain in storage at the hotel. I will arrange for them to be sent to France.
Are we not going to Paris?
- In general, yes, but you have to make a little detour. In other words, we're sailing on the frigate Abraham Lincoln to hunt for the notorious narwhal, which you've probably heard of. Can the author of "Secrets of the Deep Sea" refuse to participate in such an expedition?
“Where Mr. Professor is, there I am,” said Conseil.
A quarter of an hour later, the suitcases were packed, and the bellboy carried our things to the hotel lobby. I paid the bill, arranged for my bales of samples to be sent to France, and Conseil and I jumped into a hired carriage.
An hour later we were in the Port of Brooklyn, where the Abraham Lincoln was moored under steam. I ran up the ladder on board, introduced myself to the captain, a courageous officer with excellent bearing, and found out where the cabin provided for us was.
The Abraham Lincoln was a fast frigate equipped with the most advanced steam engines, which allowed her to reach speeds in excess of eighteen nautical miles per hour. The interior decoration of the vessel corresponded to its seaworthiness. Our cabin was located in the aft part of the frigate, a short passage connected it with the wardroom.
I left Conseil to unpack my suitcases, and went up on deck myself. Just at that moment, Captain Faragut ordered to give up the ends. If I were a quarter of an hour late, I would not have been able to participate in an expedition, the most reliable description of which may seem like an incredible fiction.
The Abraham Lincoln sailed majestically from the pier and headed down the East River, accompanied by a hundred boats and tugboats that arranged a solemn send-off for the expedition. The waterfronts of Brooklyn were full of people.
At three o'clock in the afternoon the pilot left the navigational bridge and went down into the boat. The captain gave the command to raise steam; propeller blades cut through the water faster and faster, and by eight o'clock in the evening the coastal lights disappeared from view.
Now the frigate was at full speed through the dark waters of the Atlantic.
