Under the Sea to the North Pole Read online

  UNDER THE SEA

  TO THE

  NORTH POLE

  by Pierre Maël

  Afterword by Ron Miller

  In Pierre Mael's 1898 Under the Sea to the North Pole, heroic Isabelle de Keralio is one of the leaders of an expedition that plans to reach the North Pole using steamships, balloons and submarines. After facing freezing, starvation and fierce polar bears, she finally discovers the bizarre secret that lies at the Pole. Originally published in French in 1893 as "A French Woman at the North Pole". Includes the original illustrations and an historical introductory essay by Ron Miller.

  This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.

  eISBN: 978-1-61824-997-5

  Copyright © 2013 by Ron Miller

  Cover art by: Ron Miller

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form.

  Electronic version by Baen Books

  Originally published in 1893

  The Ron Miller Science Fiction Classics Collection

  PART I: THE CONQUEST OF SPACE

  The Archeology of Space Travel

  (space travel books from the 18th and early 19th centuries)

  The Life and Astonishing Adventures of John Daniel (1751), Ralph Morris, illustrated

  Voyage to the Moon (1827), George Tucker

  Journeys to the Moon (includes "The Moon Hoax" by Richard Adams Locke, "The Unparalleled Adventures of Hans Pfaall" by Edgar Allan Poe and "Journey...to the newly discovered Planet Georgium Sidus" by "Vivenair", illustrated

  Trip to the Moon, Lucian of Samosata

  Iter Lunaire (1703), David Russen

  A Voyage to Cacklogallinia (1727), "Samuel Brunt"

  Gulliver Joi (1851), Elbert Perce, illustrated

  The Consolidator (1705), Daniel Defoe

  Trips to the Moon

  Daybreak (1896), James Cowan, illustrated

  The Conquest of the Moon (1889), Andre Laurie, illustrated

  Drowsy (1917), J.A. Mitchell, illustrated

  The Moon Conquerors (1930), R.H. Roman

  A History of a Voyage to the Moon (1864), "Chrysostom Trueman"

  The Moon Colony (1937), William Dixon Bell, illustrated by Ron Miller

  To the Moon and Back in Ninety Hours (1922), John Young Brown, illustrated

  Pioneers of Space (1949), George Adamski

  A Christmas Dinner With the Man in the Moon (1880), illustrated

  Flights to and from Mars

  Doctor Omega (1906), Arnould Goupin (translated by Ron Miller), illustrated

  To Mars via the Moon (1911), Mark Wicks, illustrated

  A Plunge Into Space (1890), Robert Cromie

  A Trip to Mars (1909), Fenton Ash, illustrated

  War of the Worlds (includes The Crystal Egg and The Things That Live On Mars), H.G. Wells. Illustrated

  Gulliver of Mars (1905), Edwin Arnold

  Across the Zodiac (1880), Percy Greg

  Journeys to Other Worlds

  The Moon-Maker (includes The Man Who Rocked the Earth) (1916), Arthur Train and Robert Wood

  A Trip to Venus (includes "Daybreak on the Moon") (1897), John Munro

  A Honeymoon in Space (1900), George Griffith, illustrated

  The Brick Moon (includes "On Vesta" by K.E. Tsiolkovsky) (1869), E.E. Hale

  A Columbus of Space (1894), Garrett Serviss, illustrated

  Extract from Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven (1909), Mark Twain

  Zero to Eighty (1937), "Akkad Pseudoman" (E.F. Northrup)

  Aleriel (Voice from Another World, 1874 and Letters from the Planets, 1883), W.S. Lach-Szyrma, illustrated

  A Journey in Other Worlds (1894), J. J. Astor. Illustrated

  Deutsche im Weltall

  (Germans in Space)

  By Rocket to the Moon (1931), Otto Willi Gail, illustrated

  The Shot Into Infinity (1925), Otto Willi Gail, illustrated

  The Stone From the Moon (1926), Otto Willi Gail, illustrated

  Between Earth and Moon (1930), Otfrid von Hanstein, illustrated

  Distant Worlds (1932), Friedrich Mader, illustrated

  A Daring Flight to Mars (1931), Max Valier

  Space Travel for Junior Space Cadets

  Through Space to Mars (1910), "Roy Rockwood" (Howard R. Garis)

  Lost on the Moon (1911)), "Roy Rockwood" (Howard R. Garis)

  Rocket Riders Across the Ice (1933), Howard R. Garis, illustrated

  Rocket Riders in Stormy Seas (1933), Howard R. Garis, illustrated

  Rocket Riders in the Air (1934), Howard R. Garis, illustrated

  Adrift in the Stratosphere (1937), A.M. Low, illustrated

  Jules Verne

  20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Jules Verne, translated and edited by Ron Miller. Illustrated

  A Journey to the Center of the Earth, translated, annotated and edited by Ron Miller. Illustrated

  Off on a Comet!, Jules Verne, edited by Ron Miller, illustrated

  From the Earth to the Moon (includes Around the Moon), Jules Verne, translated and edited by Ron Miller. Illustrated

  The Purchase of the North Pole, edited by Ron Miller, illustrated

  Science Fiction by Gaslight

  The End of Books (1884), Octave Uzanne, illustrated by Albert Robida

  Under the Sea to the North Pole (1898), Pierre Mael, illustrated

  Penguin Island (1908), Anatole France, illustrated by Frank C. Pape

  The Crystal City Under the Sea (1896), Andre Laurie, illustrated

  The Earth-Tube (1929), Gawain Edwards (G. Edward Pendray)

  PART II: FIREBRANDS OF SCIENCE FICTION

  Heroines

  Three Go Back (1932), J. Leslie Mitchell

  The Flying Legion (1920), George Allen England, illustrated

  The Island of Captain Sparrow (1928), S. Fowler Wright

  Eve’s Diary (1906), Mark Twain, illustrated

  Fugitive Anne (1904), Rose Praed, illustrated

  Lentala of the South Seas (1908), W.C. Morrow

  The Girl in the Golden Atom (1923), Ray Cummings

  Maza of the Moon (1929), Otis Adelbert Kline

  Bad Girls

  Atlantida (1920), Pierre Benoit

  Out of the Silence (1928), Erle Cox

  Swordwomen

  The Lost Continent (1900), C.J. Cutcliffe-Hyne

  The Legend of Croquemitaine (1874), Ernest L'Epine, illustrated by Gustave Dore

  Not Quite Human

  The Beetle (1897). Richard Marsh, illustrated

  Carmilla (1872), J. Sheridan LeFanu

  The Lair of the White Worm (1911), Bram Stoker, illustrated

  The Life and Adventures of Peter Wilkins (1751), Richard Paltock, illustrated

  The Sea Lady (1902), H.G. Wells, illustrated

  Angel Island (1914), Inez Haynes Gilmore

  The Future Eve (1926), Villiers de L'Isle-Adam, illustrated

  The Coming Race (1871), Edward Bulwer-Lytton

  Under the Sea

  To the

  North Pole

  CHAPTER I

  TO THE NORTH.

  EVERYWHERE the sea, east, west, north, or south; the sea, gloomy and grey, full of trouble and sorrow, under a sunless sky. And oil this sea a ship, long and narrow, beneath a cloud of smoke which the singularly low breeze is rolling off to disperse in the ambient air.

  Twelve days ago this ship left Cherbourg. She is not a ship of war, although two long steel guns are on her deck forward and aft. The French colours are at the peak, and her speed is that of a first-class ocean liner. And yet, notwithstanding her speed, s
he is only in 70° north latitude. There have been good reasons for the delay.

  Spring is approaching. To gain time the travellers have started at the end of March. The voyage has to be conducted with the greatest care, for the ice has begun to break up. Several bergs were met with off Ekersund, where the steamer had to slow. When the sea was clear again she had coasted the high cliffs of Norway, the region of the fiords. Now the North Cape is only a few miles to the eastward. To-morrow, or the day after tomorrow, as soon as the warm current will permit, the ship will reach it, and on the I5th of May the Northern Ocean will be entirely clear.

  On the after-deck two men are in conversation; comfortably seated in large folding-chairs and looking out over the stern.

  One of these men is young. He looks about twenty-eight years of age. He is tall, broad-shouldered and well-built. His companion is white in hair and beard and seems to be over fifty. They are talking with a sustained interest due to the object and conditions of the voyage.

  “Our Star has not stumbled since we started. She behaves like an old hand at sea. Let me congratulate you. She is a perfect model of a ship, and you have every reason to be proud of her, inasmuch as you are her father.”

  It was the younger man who had spoken. The elder smiled at the compliment. He answered modestly,—

  “Certainly, I am her father, her adopted father. But it was Lacrosse who found her in her baby clothes. How much do I not owe to him, and to you, my dear Hubert! For three years I have been robbing you without your suspecting it, and putting your combined knowledge and experience under contribution.”

  “Oh! my experience, uncle, is of very little importance. All the value that word may have I leave to Captain Lacrosse. As for me— ”

  “As for you/’ interrupted De Keralio, “are you not the inventor of the submarine boat of which we expect such wonders?”

  Hubert smiled.

  “Well, I admit I am worth something. But this something is at present merely experimental, and besides, the discovery is not mine entirely. Half the invention belongs to my brother Marc, and if the result justifies our hope, it is to him, above all, that the glory will belong.”

  De Keralio laughed.

  “Ah! yes,” he said. “The famous secret you must not reveal before its time.”

  “Precisely, my dear uncle; the secret which must not be divulged before a conclusive experiment.”

  “In that case the time has come to try it,” said a girl’s clear, fresh voice behind the men.

  They both turned.

  “Well, cousin,” said Hubert with a respectful bow.

  “My little Belle,” said De Keralio. “Have you come to tell us breakfast is ready? I know not if it is the wind that has freshened and made us feel hungrier than usual, but I confess that my appetite seems rather in advance of its time.”

  The new comer held out her hand to the young man, and presented her forehead for a paternal kiss.

  “No, father,” she replied, “your appetite is mistaken. It is not quite ten o’clock in the morning, and I have come to assist in the spectacle which is in preparation, Captain Lacrosse has Just told me that in a minute or two we shall have a grand illumination of the ice.”

  And without any ceremony she drew a chair up to the two men and sat down.

  She was a fine handsome girl of twenty, brown of hair and blue of eye, the type of the native Cymric and Iberian races, such as the Irish, the Gaels of Scotland, and those of the coast of Brittany, Her whole figure, lithe and well-built, told of strength rare among women, as the metallic glitter of her eyes under certain knittings of the brows betrayed unusual energy of character. Evidently she possessed the soul and frame of a true heroine, .as free from boasting and display as from awkward timidity.

  Belle—or to be more exact—Isabelle de Keralio, was the only daughter of a landowner and manufacturer, owning certain properties and establishments in Canada where his family had been settled for two centuries.

  Pierre de Keralio, a Breton by birth, had returned to the land of Ins fathers and taken up his abode on a magnificent estate m the environs of Roscoff. Isabelle had been but ten years old when she returned to her native land. She had grown up among the people of the country in the loving care of her father, who had become a widower soon after his daughter’s birth. He had retained for her the assiduous and quasi-maternal care of Tina Le Floc’h who had nursed her; and nothing could be more touching than the peasant’s affection for her adopted child. At the same time, as he had no other children, the wealthy De Keralio had given a home to two young orphans, eighteen and twenty years old, his nephews, Hubert and Marc D’Ermont, the sons of his sister who had died at the same time as her husband, Robert D’Ermont, a captain in the French navy. Hubert had completed his preparatory studies at the Naval School. His uncle, so far from objecting, encouraged him in his liking for the glorious career upon which he had entered. Two years later the young man began his sea-faring life as a second-class cadet.

  Now he was a full-blown lieutenant. Unlimited leave granted by the minister for the encouragement of the generous and patriotic attempt of De Keralio, had permitted him to share in the risk as well as in the glory to come of this expedition into those fatal regions from which so few explorers have returned.

  Hubert’s elder brother Marc, was of a delicate and sickly constitution, but of rare intelligence, and had devoted himself to the study of physical science. At thirty he was one of the most distinguished scientists of the capital; his name had on many occasions come to the front on account of his useful discoveries. He had been unable to accompany his brother and uncle in their expedition; but for two years he and Hubert had been engaged in mysterious and difficult researches for increasing the voyage’s chances of success by new means and methods due to the invincible power of science.

  Isabelle dc Keralio was a somewhat peculiar personage, whose character and education did not in many ways resemble those of an ordinary French girl. To her long sojourn in America she owed, perhaps by mere force of habit slowly acquired, that virile energy which contrasted so strongly with the gentleness, the languor even, and the timid graces of the women of old Europe. Accustomed to all bodily exercises and equipped with high intellectual culture, she would doubtless have frightened any other lover than Hubert.

  But Hubert knew her well. He knew that her ways, differ as they might from those of young Frenchwomen, in no way detracted from her good qualities, that they only concealed from the unobservant eye the treasures of tenderness and charity in which her noble heart abounded. Besides, Isabelle put off this strange exterior in the intimacy of home. She recovered all the charms of her sex, and that with a rare power of fascination. An accomplished musician, whether she ran her fingers over the keyboard or used her admirable voice in all its ringing fullness. She then manifested the inward harmony of which her beauty was but the external robe.

  They had been engaged of their own accord, with her father’s consent, and it had been arranged that the wedding should take place on the day Hubert won his epaulettes. He had won them in good time, when he was only twenty-seven; but then a fresh delay had intervened to postpone the union which both so much desired.

  Pierre de Keralio was not a sailor, but he had been sufficiently on the sea to have no fear of it. More than this he had contracted a love for it, and at an age when most men retire from work he had conceived the idea of devoting a part of his immense fortune to the service of science. Patriotism had given to this noble thought a character of touching grandeur, and one day, he had said in a loud voice before an audience of friends invited to the betrothal of Hubert and Isabelle,—

  “When my daughter is married, I will put into execution a grand scheme I have been thinking of for many years. I will go to the Pole. It shall not be said that Nares and Stephenson, and Aldrich, and Markham, that is to say Saxons, in 1876; that Greely, and Lockwood, and Brainard, Americans, that is to say other Saxons, in 1882 went beyond the 83rd parallel, without its also being said the F
rench have beaten them.”

  There was an exclamation from Isabelle.

  “When I am married! Well! Our friends may blame my agreeing with you, but it shall never be said that Isabelle de Keralio did not have her share in such glory. I know Hubert’s heart well enough to know that he will give me permission to follow my father to the top of the world.”

  Some of the friends applauded; the majority of them objected.

  “My daughter!” said De Keralio, endeavouring to get in a word.

  Isabelle would not allow him to finish. Throwing her arms around his neck with irresistible tenderness, she replied,—

  “Hush, father! Not a word more! It is agreed. You have educated me in such a way that I am not a spoilt boy. I will go to the North Pole. And then you know, father, I shall not have disobeyed you, for you have just betrothed me to Hubert, and his authority over me now is as much as yours was. Now let us talk of the expedition.”

  Then De Keralio said to Hubert,—

  “To you, my future son-in-law, I must appeal. Will you be good enough to teach this unreasonable young person a little reason?”

  Hubert, being thus cornered, arose.

  “My dear father,” he replied, “for I can so call you, I will try and dissuade your daughter from a scheme so full of danger. I will endeavour to show her why such a resolve is so difficult of accomplishment for a woman. But if she refuses to yield to your opinion and to mine, and persists in a decision which, brave as it may be, ought to yield to more prudent considerations, I will ask you to let me share in the danger. Where Isabelle de Keralio goes, Hubert. D’Ermont, her betrothed and future husband, ought to go.”