A Floating City, and The Blockade Runners

A Floating City, and The Blockade Runners

The few minor errors, attributable to the printer, have been corrected. Please see the transcribers notes at the end of this text for details regarding the handling of any textual issues encountered during its preparation. The full-page illustrations have been moved to more appropriate locations. On the 18th of March, 1867, I arrived at Liverpool, intending to take a berth simply as an amateur traveller on board the Great Eastern, which in a few days was to sail for New York. I had sometimes thought of paying a visit to North America, and was now tempted to cross the Atlantic on board this gigantic boat. First of all the Great Eastern, then the country celebrated by Cooper. This steam-ship is indeed a masterpiece of naval construction; more than a vessel, it is a floating city, part of the country, detached from English soil, which after having crossed the sea, unites itself to the American Continent. I pictured to myself this enormous bulk borne on the waves, her defiant struggle with the wind, her boldness before the powerless sea, her indifference to the billows, her stability in the midst of that element which tosses Warriors and 2Solferinos like ships boats. But my imagination carried me no farther; all these things I did indeed see during the passage, and many others which do not exclusively belong to the maritime domain. If the Great Eastern is not merely a nautical engine, but rather a microcosm, and carries a small world with it, an observer will not be astonished to meet here, as on a larger theatre, all the instincts, follies, and passions of human nature. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 67829
Author: Verne, Jules
Release Date: Apr 14, 2022
Format: eBook
Language: English
Publisher: Charles Scribner's Sons
Publication Date: 1904
Publisher Country: United States