The Survivors of the Chancellor | Page 3

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This etext was prepared by Judy Boss, Omaha, Nebraska

WORKS of JULES VERNE
EDITED BY
CHARLES F. HORNE

INTRODUCTION
THE SURVIVORS OF THE CHANCELLOR was issued in 1875.
Shipwrecks occur in other of Verne's tales; but this is his only story
devoted wholly to such a disaster. In it the author has gathered all the
tragedy, the mystery, and the suffering possible to the sea. All the vari-
ous forms of disaster, all the possibilities of horror, the depths of shame
and agony, are heaped upon these unhappy voyagers. The accumulation
is mathematically complete and emotionally unforgettable. The tale has
well been called the "imperishable epic of shipwreck."
The idea of the book is said to have originated in the cele- brated
French painting by Gericault, "the Wreck of the Medusa," now in the
Louvre gallery. The Medusa was a French frigate wrecked off the coast
of Africa in 1816. Some of the survivors, escaping on a raft, were
rescued by a passing ship after many days of torture. Verne, however,
seems also to have drawn upon the terrifying experiences of the British
ship Sarah Sands in 1857, her story being fresh in the public mind at
the time he wrote. The Sarah Sands caught fire off the African coast
while on a voyage to India carrying British troops. There was
gunpowder aboard li- able to blow up at any moment. Some of it did
indeed ex- plode, tearing a huge hole in the vessel's side. A storm
added to the terror, and the waters entering the breach caused by the
explosion, combated with the fire. After ten days of desperate struggle,
the charred and sinking vessel reached a port.
The extreme length of life which Verne allows his people in their
starving, thirsting condition is proven possible by medical science and
recent "fasting"' experiments. The dramatic climax of the tale wherein
the castaways find fresh water in the ocean is based upon a fact, one of
those odd geographical facts of which the author made such frequent,
skillful and instructive use.
"Michael Strogoff" which, through its use as a stage play, has become
one of the best known books of all the world, was first published in

1876. Its vivid, powerful story has made it a favorite with every
red-blooded reader. Its two well-drawn female characters, the
courageous hero- ine, and the stern, endurant, yearning mother, show
how well Verne could depict the tenderer sex when he so willed.
Though usually the rapid movement and adventure of his stories leave
women in subordinate parts.
As to the picture drawn in "Michael Strogoff" of Russia and Siberia, it
is at once instructive and sympathetic. The horrors are not blinked at,
yet neither is Russian patri- otism ignored. The loyalty of some of the
Siberian exiles to their mother country