Upon examining the mass attentively, I could recognise
the ever-thickening form of a vessel bare of its masts,
which must have sunk. It certainly belonged to past times.
This wreck, to be thus encrusted with the lime of the water,
must already be able to count many years passed at the bottom
of the ocean.
What was this vessel? Why did the Nautilus visit its tomb?
Could it have been aught but a shipwreck which had drawn it under the water?
I knew not what to think, when near me in a slow voice I heard
Captain Nemo say:
"At one time this ship was called the Marseillais. It carried
seventy-four guns, and was launched in 1762. In 1778, the 13th of August,
commanded by La Poype-Ver trieux, it fought boldly against the Preston.
In 1779, on the 4th of July, it was at the taking of Grenada,
with the squadron of Admiral Estaing. In 1781, on the 5th of September,
it took part in the battle of Comte de Grasse, in Chesapeake Bay.
In 1794, the French Republic changed its name. On the 16th of April,
in the same year, it joined the squadron of Villaret Joyeuse, at Brest,
being entrusted with the escort of a cargo of corn coming from America,
under the command of Admiral Van Stebel.
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