Chapter 21 Chapter 20 Surveying of the Susquehanna

Hello!Captain, how is the survey going? I think it will be over soon, sir," replied Captain Bronsfield.But who would have guessed that so close to land, and only a hundred leagues from the coast of America, the sea would be so deep? In truth, Bronsfield, this is a deep trench, said Captain Bloomsbury.At this place there is a sea valley washed out by the Humboldt Current, which winds its way down the coast of America until it ends in the Strait of Magellan. The water here is too deep to be suitable for submarine cables. The captain went on to say that it is best to be like Valancia (Note: The island of Ireland is located in the Atlantic Ocean and is part of the British Isles.) and Newfoundland (Note: It is located in the North Atlantic Ocean.) Large islands, under the jurisdiction of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.) Like the American cable between, the cable is placed on a flat submarine plateau.

I agree, Bronsfield, and if you agree, tell me, Captain, how many feet has the hammer been let out? Twenty-one thousand five hundred feet out, sir, said Bronsfield, and the shells towing the probe hadn't hit the bottom of the sea yet, because the probe always comes up. The Brooke device was a delicate instrument, Captain Bloomsbury said, and its measurements were always very accurate. Hit the bottom of the sea!At this time, a front helmsman supervising the operation suddenly called out. The captain and captain stepped onto the forecastle. How deep is the water?asked the captain. Twenty-one thousand seven hundred and sixty-two feet, replied the captain, noting the figure in the workbook.

Very well, Bronsfield, said the captain, and I will write this result on my map.Now, you pull the detectors on board.This work takes several hours.Engineers to light the furnaces now, and we'll be ready to sail as soon as your work is over.It's ten o'clock at night, Captain, and with your permission, I'm going to bed. Go to sleep, sir, go to sleep!said Captain Bronsfield kindly. The captain of the Susquehanna, the most upright man in the world, and the most humble servant of his officers, returned to his cabin, drank a glass of brandy and hot sugar water, and repeatedly expressed his satisfaction to his cook, and went on , He praised his servant's way of making the bed, and then fell asleep peacefully.

It was ten o'clock at night.The eleventh day of December will end on this beautiful night. The Susquehanna, a five-hundred-horsepower frigate of the United States Navy, is currently surveying the Pacific Ocean, about a hundred leagues off the coast of the United States, near a narrow peninsula south of New Mexico. The wind died down.The atmosphere was calm.The flag hung motionless and lifeless from the topmast. For well done Jonathan.One of the most enthusiastic members of Captain Bloomsbury's Gun Club, a cousin of Colonel Bloomsbury's, who married his cousin, a girl called Hallshbyden, a dear Kentucky The weather could not have been more ideal for such a delicate surveying job as the daughter of a respected wholesaler.As for the great storm which had cleared the Rocky Mountain clouds so that the movement of the famous projectile could be observed, his escorts did not even feel it at all.Here everything was as it should be, and he did not forget to thank God with the zeal of a Presbyterian.

The series of surveys carried out by the Susquehanna was aimed at finding suitable sites for laying an undersea cable from the Hawaiian Islands to the coast of the United States. This is a huge plan proposed by a powerful company.The manager of this company, the shrewd and capable Cyrus.Field even advocated the laying of a huge telegraph network connecting all the islands in Oceania. This great undertaking is truly worthy of the genius of the Americans. It was the initial detection work of this program that was entrusted to the Susquehanna.On the night of December 11, the escort ship was located exactly at latitude 27 degrees 7' north and longitude 41 degrees 36 minutes west of Washington.

At this time, the moon, which has entered the last quarter period, has just risen from the horizon. After Bloomsbury had gone, Captain Bronsfield and several officers assembled on the quarterdeck.As soon as the moon appeared, their thoughts turned to the celestial body at which all the men in the hemisphere were gazing.The best naval telescopes could not detect projectiles orbiting the Moon.Yet all telescopes were still aimed at the radiant disk, and millions of eyes were fixed on it. They had been gone for ten days, said Captain Bronsfield.What are they doing now? They had reached their destination, exclaimed my captain, the young ensign, and they were wandering about like all travelers arriving at a new place!

Since you tell me so, I am sure they have reached the moon, replied my young friend, Captain Bronsfield, smiling. Besides, we shouldn't doubt it, continued the other officer.The projectile should reach the Moon at midnight on the 5th when the Moon is full.We are now on the eleventh of December, which means it has been six days.Six by twenty-four hours, and with no darkness, they had plenty of time to settle comfortably.I seem to see that our three righteous countrymen have camped by a stream deep in the valley of the moon, next to the projectile that was half buried in the volcanic ash when it fell.Captain Nicholl started leveling, Chairman Barbicane was writing out his travel notes, Michel.Ardan's Havana cigars scent the silence of the moon

Yes, it should be so, and it must be so, exclaimed the young lieutenant, suddenly excited by his superior's poetic description. I hope so, too, replied the less excitable Captain Bronsfield.Unfortunately, we have no direct communication with the lunar world. I'm sorry, my captain.said the second lieutenant.Could Chairman Barbicane know how to write? There was a burst of laughter at this answer. I don't mean writing letters, said the young man hastily, the post office there is quite different from ours here. Perhaps the telegraph office?another officer asked sarcastically. Not to mention the telegraph office, the second lieutenant replied that he was not troubled.But it is easy for them to establish a graphical connection with the earth.

How to do it? Langfeng's telescope can be used.You know that this telescope reduces the distance between the Moon and the Rocky Mountains to two leagues, so that we can see objects nine feet in diameter on the surface of the Moon.All right!All it takes is three of our savvy friends building a few giant letters!If only they could get their message to us with a letter a hundred Torvalds high, and a few words a mile long! Everyone gave warm applause to this young second lieutenant, he is indeed a man of imagination.Even Captain Bronsfield thought the idea was feasible.He went on to add that a beam of light from a parabolic mirror can establish a direct connection with the earth; in fact, this beam of light is not only visible to us on the surface of Venus or Mars, but even on Neptune, we can see it. Also be able to see.He concluded by saying that glowing spots observed on nearby planets could be signals to Earth.But he went on to say that by this method we can get news from the lunar world, but we cannot send news from the terrestrial world, unless the lunar people also have instruments for long-distance observation.

Of course, an officer replied, but how are the three travelers doing now, what are they doing, and what are they seeing, all of which are of special concern to us.Besides, if this experiment is successful, I have no doubts about it, and we will have a second experiment in the future.The Columbia still remains under Florida, so long as there are shells and powder, we can send passengers to the moon every time it passes the zenith. It was evident, said Captain Bronsfield, that Maston was going to visit his three friends in a few days. If he wants me, cried the ensign, I'm ready to go with him.

ah!There was no shortage of amateurs everywhere, Bronsfield replied, and if they were allowed to go on like this, before long half the population of the earth would be relocated to the moon! The officers on the Susquehanna went on talking like this until one o'clock in the morning.We cannot here describe the astonishing doctrines and dazzling theories which were published by those brave men at that time.Ever since Barbicane began this scientific experiment, nothing seemed impossible to the Americans.They were already planning to send not a committee of scientists, but an army of infantry, artillery, and cavalry to conquer the lunar world. At one o'clock in the morning, the probe has not yet been pulled to the surface of the water.There are still 10,000 feet of rope left in the water, and it will take hours to finish.According to the captain's order, the furnace has been started, and the pressure of the boiler has begun to rise.Susquehanna is ready to sail anytime. At this very moment, it was exactly one seventeen in the morning, and as Captain Bronsfield was leaving the quarterdeck to return to his cabin, his attention was suddenly attracted by a distant and unexpected whistling sound. He and his companions thought it was the sound of an air leak at first, but as soon as they raised their heads, they were able to confirm that the sound came from the upper atmosphere. Before they had time to ask each other, the whistling sound became louder and creepier, and then, suddenly, under their bewildered eyes, a gigantic meteor appeared. combustion. In their eyes, this pyrotechnic object was getting bigger and bigger, like a sinking thunder, it hit the foremast with a bang, and the foremast snapped at the root, and then sank into the waves and disappeared with a deafening sound. A few feet more and the Susquehanna would have sunk, man and equipment. At this moment, Captain Bloomsbury appeared half naked, and he rushed onto the bow deck, and all the officers rushed to him. Allow me to ask, gentlemen, what happened?he asks. The lieutenant's words echoed, perhaps, everyone's answer, as he shouted: Captain, they're back!