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Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
Chapter 31. Vigo Bay
The Atlantic! A huge body of water that covers twenty-five million square miles.
It's nine thousand miles long and two thousand seven hundred miles wide on average.
Its winding shores surround a huge area.
The largest rivers in the world flow into it.
They include St. Lawrence, Mississippi, Amazon, Plata, Orinoco, Niger, Senegal, Elbe, Loire, and Rhine.
These rivers carry water from the most civilized countries and from the most savage ones.
What a magnificent field of water! Ships from every nation constantly travel across it.
It's sheltered by the flags of every nation.
And it ends at those two terrible points that sailors fear so much, Cape Horn and the Cape of Tempests.
The Nautilus was cutting through the water with its sharp front.
It had traveled nearly ten thousand leagues in three and a half months.
That's a distance greater than the earth's circumference.
Where were we going now? What was waiting for us in the future?
The Nautilus had left the Straits of Gibraltar and gone far out.
It returned to the surface of the waves, and we could take our daily walks on the platform again.
I went up at once, with Ned Land and Conseil.
About twelve miles away, we could dimly see Cape St. Vincent.
It forms the southwestern point of the Spanish peninsula.
A strong wind was blowing from the south.
The sea was rough and full of big waves.
It made the Nautilus rock violently, it was almost impossible to keep your feet on the platform.
The heavy waves washed over it every moment.
So we went back down after breathing in some fresh air.
I returned to my room, and Conseil went to his cabin.
But the Canadian followed me with a worried look.
Our fast trip across the Mediterranean hadn't let him carry out his plan.
He couldn't hide his disappointment, When the door of my room was shut, he sat down and looked at me silently.
"Friend Ned," I said, "I understand you. But you can't blame yourself. Trying to leave the Nautilus in those conditions would have been foolish."
Ned Land didn't answer, his tight lips and frowning forehead showed how strongly this fixed idea had taken hold of his mind.
"Let's see," I continued.
"We don't need to lose hope yet."
"We're going up the coast of Portugal again."
"France and England aren't far away."
"We can easily find safety there."
"Now, if the Nautilus had gone south after leaving the Straits of Gibraltar, if it had taken us to areas with no land, I'd share your worry."
"But we know now that Captain Nemo doesn't run away from civilized seas."
"In a few days, I think you can act safely."
Ned Land still stared at me, his eyes hard and full of resolve.
Finally, his tight lips opened, and he said, "It's for tonight."
I sat up suddenly, I admit I wasn't ready for this news.
I wanted to answer the Canadian, but the words wouldn't come.
"We agreed to wait for a chance," Ned Land continued.
The chance has come. Tonight we'll be only a few miles from the Spanish coast, cloudy, windy. I have your word, Mr. Aronnax. I count on you.
I stayed silent, the Canadian came closer.
"Tonight, at nine o'clock," he said.
"I've warned Conseil, and at that time Captain Nemo will be shut in his room, probably in bed."
"Neither the engineers nor the crew can see us, so Conseil and I'll go to the central staircase."
"You, Mr. Aronnax, will stay in the library two steps from us, waiting for my signal."
"Oars, mast, and sail are in the canoe, food and an English wrench are ready to undo the Nautilus's bolts, so all is ready tonight."
"The sea is rough."
"I know that," replied the Canadian.
"But we have to risk it, freedom is worth paying for, and the boat is strong."
"A few miles with a good wind to carry us isn't a big deal, by tomorrow we might be a hundred leagues away."
"If things go well, by ten or eleven o'clock we'll have landed on some piece of solid ground, alive or dead, goodbye now until tonight".
With these words, the Canadian left, I was almost speechless.
I had thought that since the chance was gone, I'd have time to think and discuss things.
My stubborn companion hadn't given me any time.
And after all, what could I have said to him?
Ned Land was completely right, there was almost a chance to take advantage of.
Could I take back my word and take on the responsibility of risking my companions' future?
Tomorrow, Captain Nemo might take us far from any land.
At that moment, a fairly loud hissing noise told me that the tanks were filling.
The Nautilus was sinking under the waves of the Atlantic.
I spent a sad, restless day, torn between hope and fear.
I was torn between the desire to get my freedom back and the wish to leave the wonderful Nautilus and give up my underwater studies.
What terrible hours I spent! Sometimes I saw myself and my companions safely on land.
Sometimes, in spite of my reason, I wished that some unexpected event would stop Ned Land's plan.
Twice I went to the lounge, I wanted to check the compass.
I wanted to see if the direction the Nautilus was taking was bringing us closer to the coast or taking us farther away.
But no, the Nautilus stayed in Portuguese waters.
So I had to accept my part and get ready to escape.
My luggage wasn't heavy, Just my notes, nothing more.
As for Captain Nemo, I asked myself what he'd think of our escape.
What trouble, what harm it might cause him.
What would he do if he discovered it or if it failed?
Certainly, I had no reason to complain about him.
On the contrary, no one had ever been more generous with their hospitality than he was.
By leaving him, I couldn't be accused of being ungrateful.
No promise tied us to him, he relied on circumstances, not on our word, to keep us forever.
I hadn't seen the Captain since our visit to the Island of Santorin.
Would chance bring me face to face with him before we left?
I wanted it, and I feared it at the same time.
I listened to see if I could hear him walking in the room next to mine.
No sound reached my ears, I felt an unbearable uneasiness.
This day of waiting seemed endless, the hours struck too slowly to keep up with my impatience.
My dinner was served in my room as usual.
I ate very little, I was too worried.
I left the table at seven o'clock.
A hundred and twenty minutes, I counted them, still separated me from the moment when I'd join Ned Land.
My agitation grew stronger, My pulse beat violently.
I couldn't stay still, I walked back and forth, hoping to calm my troubled mind by moving constantly.
The idea of failing in our bold plan was the least painful of my worries.
The thought of being discovered before leaving the Nautilus and brought before Captain Nemo, angry or, worse, saddened, made my heart race.
I wanted to see the lounge one last time.
I went down the stairs and arrived in the museum, where I had spent so many useful and pleasant hours.
I looked at all its riches, all its treasures, like a man on the night before an eternal exile, leaving never to return.
These wonders of nature, these masterpieces of art, among which my life had been centered for so many days, I was going to leave them forever!
I'd have liked to take one last look through the lounge windows into the waters of the Atlantic.
But the panels were tightly closed, and a cloak of steel separated me from that ocean which I hadn't yet explored.
While passing through the lounge, I came near the door in the corner that opened into the Captain's room.
To my great surprise, this door was slightly open.
I stepped back without thinking, If Captain Nemo was in his room, he could see me.
But I heard no sound, so I came closer.
The room was empty, I pushed the door open and took a few steps forward.
It still had the same monk-like simplicity.
Suddenly the clock struck eight, the first beat of the hammer on the bell woke me from my dreams.
I trembled as if an invisible eye had looked into my most secret thoughts, I hurried out of the room.
There my eyes fell on the compass.
Our course was still north, the speed indicator showed a moderate speed.
The pressure gauge showed a depth of about sixty feet.
I returned to my room, I dressed warmly, sea boots, an otter-skin cap, a coat made of byssus lined with sealskin.
I was ready, I was waiting, the vibration of the propeller alone broke the deep silence on board.
I listened carefully, Would a loud voice suddenly tell me that Ned Land had been caught in his planned escape?
A terrible fear hung over me, I tried in vain to get back my usual calm.
At a few minutes to nine, I put my ear to the Captain's door.
No noise, I left my room and returned to the lounge, it was half dark but empty.
I opened the door to the library.
The same dim light, the same emptiness.
I stood near the door to the central staircase and waited for Ned Land's signal.
At that moment, the shaking of the propeller became noticeably weaker.
Then it stopped completely, the silence was now broken only by the beating of my own heart.
Suddenly I felt a slight shock, I knew that the Nautilus had stopped at the bottom of the ocean.
My uneasiness grew, the Canadian's signal didn't come.
I felt like joining Ned Land and asking him to put off his attempt.
I felt that we weren't sailing under our usual conditions.
At that moment, the door of the large lounge opened, and Captain Nemo appeared.
He saw me and, without any introduction, began in a friendly tone of voice,
"Ah, sir! I've been looking for you. Do you know the history of Spain?"
Now, one might know the history of one's own country by heart.
But in the state I was in, with my mind troubled and my head completely lost, I couldn't have said a single word about it.
"Well," continued Captain Nemo, "you heard my question! Do you know the history of Spain?"
"Very little," I answered.
"Well, here are learned men who still have things to learn," said the Captain.
"Come, sit down, and I'll tell you a curious episode from this history. Sir, listen carefully," he said.
"This history will interest you for one reason. It'll answer a question that you probably haven't been able to solve."
"I'm listening, Captain," I said.
I didn't know what he was getting at, and I asked myself if this story had anything to do with our planned escape.
"Sir, if you don't mind, we'll go back to 1702".
You can't be unaware that your king, Louis XIV, thought that a ruler's gesture was enough to bring the Pyrenees under his control.
He had placed the Duke of Anjou, his grandson, on the Spanish throne.
This prince ruled more or less badly under the name Philip V.
He had a strong party against him abroad.
In fact, the year before, the royal houses of Holland, Austria, and England had made a treaty of alliance at the Hague.
They intended to take the crown of Spain from Philip V and give it to an archduke, whom they prematurely called Charles III.
"Spain had to resist this coalition".
But she had almost no soldiers or sailors.
However, money wouldn't fail them, as long as their galleons, loaded with gold and silver from America, once entered their ports.
Around the end of 1702, they expected a rich convoy.
France was escorting it with a fleet of twenty-three ships, commanded by Admiral Chateau-Renaud.
The ships of the coalition were already sailing the Atlantic.
This convoy was supposed to go to Cadiz.
But the Admiral, hearing that an English fleet was cruising in those waters, decided to head for a French port.
"The Spanish commanders of the convoy objected to this decision".
They wanted to be taken to a Spanish port.
If not to Cadiz, then to Vigo Bay, on the northwest coast of Spain, which wasn't blocked.
"Admiral Chateau-Renaud was foolish enough to obey this order".
The galleons entered Vigo Bay, anchoring in the open roadstead, heavily laden with treasure.
"Unfortunately, it was an open roadstead that couldn't be defended in any way".
So they had to unload the galleons quickly before the combined fleet arrived.
And they'd have had enough time if a miserable question of rivalry hadn't suddenly come up.
"Are you following the chain of events?" asked Captain Nemo.
"Perfectly," I said, not knowing the purpose of this history lesson.
"I'll continue".
This is what happened, the merchants of Cadiz had a privilege.
They had the right to receive all merchandise coming from the West Indies.
So unloading these gold bars at the port of Vigo would take away their rights, they complained in Madrid.
They got the weak-minded Philip to agree that the convoy, without unloading its cargo, should stay in the roads of Vigo until the enemy had left.
"But while they were making this decision, on October 22, 1702, the English ships arrived in Vigo Bay."
"Admiral Chateau-Renaud, despite having fewer forces, fought bravely."
"But seeing that the treasure would fall into the enemy's hands, he burned and sank every galleon."
"They went to the bottom with their huge riches."
Captain Nemo stopped, I admit I still couldn't see why this history should interest me.
"Well?" I asked.
"Well, Mr. Aronnax," replied Captain Nemo, "we're in that Vigo Bay. And it's up to you whether you'll explore its mysteries."
The Captain stood up and told me to follow him.
I had had time to recover, I obeyed.
The lounge was dark, but through the clear glass, the waves were sparkling, I looked.
For half a mile around the Nautilus, the waters seemed bathed in electric light.
The sandy bottom was clean and bright.
Some of the crew, in their diving suits, were clearing away half-rotten barrels and empty cases from among the blackened wrecks.
From these cases and barrels came ingots of gold and silver, and streams of coins and jewels, the sand was covered with them.
Carrying their precious treasure, the men returned to the Nautilus, put down their loads, and went back to this endless fishery of gold and silver.
I understood now, this was the site of the battle of October 22, 1702.
Right here, the galleons loaded for the Spanish government had sunk.
Here Captain Nemo came, whenever he needed, to collect those millions that he loaded onto the Nautilus.
It was for him, and him alone, that America had given up her precious metals.
He was the direct heir, with no one to share in those treasures taken from the Incas and from the conquered people of Ferdinand Cortez.
"Did you know, sir," he asked, smiling, "that the sea contains such riches?"
"I knew," I answered, "that they value the money held in suspension in these waters at two million."
"Doubtless," he said.
"But to get this money out, the cost would be greater than the profit," he said.
"I pick up lost goods in Vigo Bay and other ports on my underwater map, can you see where the millions I own come from?" said Nemo.
"I understand, Captain. But allow me to say that by exploring Vigo Bay, you've only beaten a rival company."
"And which one?"
"A company that has received the privilege from the Spanish government to look for those buried galleons."
"The shareholders are attracted by the promise of a huge reward."
"They value these rich shipwrecks at five hundred million."
"Five hundred million they were," answered Captain Nemo.
"But they aren't anymore."
"Exactly," I said.
"And warning those shareholders would be an act of kindness."
"But who knows if it would be well received?"
"What gamblers usually regret most isn't the loss of their money, but their foolish hopes."
"After all, I pity them less than the thousands of poor people who would have benefited from such riches if they were well distributed."
"But for them, these riches will be forever useless."
I had no sooner said this than I felt it must have hurt Captain Nemo.
"Useless!" he exclaimed, with energy.
"Do you think, then, sir, that these riches are lost because I collect them?"
"Do you think I take the trouble to gather these treasures only for myself?"
"Who told you that I don't make good use of them?"
"Do you think I don't know that there are suffering people and oppressed races on this earth?"
"Miserable creatures to comfort?"
"Victims to avenge?"
"Don't you understand?"
Captain Nemo stopped at these last words.
He was perhaps sorry he had said so much.
But I had guessed that, whatever the reason that had forced him to seek independence under the sea, it had left him still a man.
His heart still beat for the sufferings of humanity.
And his huge generosity was for oppressed races as well as individuals.
And then I understood who those millions were meant for.
The millions that Captain Nemo sent when the Nautilus was cruising in the waters of Crete.