"
"What are they, Captain?"
"That involves my telling you how the Nautilus is worked."
"I am impatient to learn."
"To steer this boat to starboard or port, to turn, in a word,
following a horizontal plan, I use an ordinary rudder fixed on the back
of the stern-post, and with one wheel and some tackle to steer by.
But I can also make the Nautilus rise and sink, and sink and rise,
by a vertical movement by means of two inclined planes fastened to its sides,
opposite the centre of flotation, planes that move in every direction,
and that are worked by powerful levers from the interior.
If the planes are kept parallel with the boat, it moves horizontally.
If slanted, the Nautilus, according to this inclination, and under
the influence of the screw, either sinks diagonally or rises diagonally
as it suits me. And even if I wish to rise more quickly to the surface,
I ship the screw, and the pressure of the water causes the Nautilus
to rise vertically like a balloon filled with hydrogen."
"Bravo, Captain! But how can the steersman follow the route
in the middle of the waters?"
"The steersman is placed in a glazed box, that is raised about the hull
of the Nautilus, and furnished with lenses.
Pages:
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128