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"The first thing that's wrong with being a science-fiction writer today is that the present has caught up with the future and surpassed it."
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A mysterious sea creature is attacking ships; sent to investigate, the American navy finds that it is no animal but a mechanical device - a submarine. Rammed by this undersea craft, M. Arronnax, his servant Conseil and harpooner Ned Land fall into the sea and are taken aboard the Nautilus.
Although Jules Verne certainly stimulated the imaginations of millions with his depiction of the Nautilus, the first scientific references to a submarine vessel date to the 16th century. William Bourne (1580) wrote:
Suppose you had a fully enclosed boat that just floats; it floats because it displaces its weight in water. Decrease the size of the vessel enough, and it will sink; once underwater, you increase its size again (he devised leather expanding joints to accomplish this) and it will again rise to the surface.
Compare to the ship that swims under water from The Description of a New World, Called The Blazing-World (1666) by Margaret Cavendish and the electric boat from The Great Drought (1932) by Capt. S.P. Meek. Comment/Join this discussion ( 1 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This | Additional
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Science Fiction
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