A few minutes later, Professor Aronnax and Captain Nemo sat on a sofa in the saloon. They were smoking together. Captain Nemo showed Professor Aronnax a sketch (a simple drawing) of the boat. The drawing showed the inside and the outside of the Nautilus. Then Captain Nemo began to describe the boat.
Captain Nemo said that the boat was long and thin. It had pointed ends. It looked like a big cigar. This was a common shape for boats in London. The Nautilus was 232 feet long and 26 feet wide.
The boat was not like a normal steam ship. Its shape was very smooth. Because of this, the water moved past the boat easily. The boat moved through the ocean very fast. Captain Nemo used math to explain the size of the boat.
The Nautilus had two hulls (the hard outer shells of a boat). There was one shell on the outside and one shell on the inside. Strong iron pieces connected the two shells. This made the boat very strong. It was like a solid block of stone.
The walls of the boat were very tough. The ocean could not break them. Captain Nemo used steel plates to build the shells. These plates were very heavy and thick. One part of the boat, the keel (the long piece of metal at the bottom of a boat), weighed sixty-two tons alone.
The engine and the other parts were also very heavy. Captain Nemo asked if Professor Aronnax understood the numbers. Professor Aronnax said that he did. Captain Nemo then explained how the boat stayed on top of the water.
When the boat was on the surface, a small part of it was above the water. Captain Nemo had large reservoirs (tanks for holding water) in the bottom of the boat. He opened some taps to fill these tanks with water. This made the boat heavy. Then the boat sank under the water.
Professor Aronnax had a question. He understood how the boat stayed on the surface. But he thought the deep water was a problem. The water pushed against the boat very hard. This was pressure (the force of water pushing against something).
Captain Nemo smiled at Professor Aronnax. He said that sinking was not difficult. Most things want to sink in the ocean. He only needed to calculate the weight of the water. He had extra tanks to help the boat go very deep.
When Captain Nemo wanted to go back to the surface, he did something simple. He pushed the water out of the tanks. Then the boat became light again. It rose to the top of the ocean. Professor Aronnax listened to these reasons.
Professor Aronnax agreed with Captain Nemo’s math. But he saw another problem. The water pressure was very strong deep in the ocean. He thought the pumps were not strong enough to push the water out of the tanks.
Captain Nemo answered quickly. He said that electricity gave his engines great power. The pumps on the Nautilus were very strong. Professor Aronnax remembered how the boat threw water at the American ship, the Abraham Lincoln. Captain Nemo also used other secrets to go five or six miles deep.
Professor Aronnax wanted to know more. Captain Nemo explained how he moved the boat. He used a rudder (a flat piece of metal at the back of a boat to help it turn). He moved a wheel to turn the boat left or right.
To move the boat up or down, Captain Nemo used two flat pieces on the sides. These pieces could tilt. If the pieces tilted down, the boat moved down. If the pieces tilted up, the boat moved up. If the pieces were straight, the boat moved forward.
Professor Aronnax asked how the driver could see. Captain Nemo said the driver sat in a small box on top of the boat. This box had glass windows. The glass was very thick. It did not break even when the water pressure was very high.
But the ocean was very dark. Professor Aronnax asked how the driver could see in the darkness. Captain Nemo said he had a powerful electric light. This light showed the driver everything for half a mile in front of the boat.
Professor Aronnax finally understood. He remembered the bright light on the "sea monster" from before. He asked if the Nautilus hit the other ships by accident. Captain Nemo said the collisions were accidents. He was sailing near the surface when he hit them.
Then they spoke about the American ship. Captain Nemo was sorry he hit the ship. But he said the Americans attacked him first. He had to defend himself. He only broke the ship a little bit. It was easy for the Americans to fix it.
Professor Aronnax said the Nautilus was a wonderful boat. Captain Nemo said he loved the boat like a part of himself. He felt very safe inside it. There was no fire to fear because the boat was made of iron.
There were no sails for the wind to blow away. There was no coal because the boat used electricity. The boat did not fear storms. When the weather was bad, the boat just went deep under the water. It was peaceful and quiet there.
Captain Nemo was the captain, the builder, and the engineer of the boat. Professor Aronnax asked how he built it in secret. Captain Nemo said he bought the parts from many different countries. He used different names so no one knew his secret.
Captain Nemo bought the steel in England and the engines in Prussia. He bought other parts in New York and France. Then he took all the parts to a desert island in the middle of the ocean. He stayed there with his men.
Captain Nemo and his men put the boat together on that island. When they finished the work, they burned everything on the island. They destroyed all the evidence of their work. The boat was very expensive to build.
The boat cost many millions of francs. The art and the collections inside the boat also cost a lot of money. Professor Aronnax had one last question for Captain Nemo. He asked if Captain Nemo was rich.
Captain Nemo said he was very, over-the-top rich. He said he had enough money to pay all the debt of the country of France. Professor Aronnax looked at the Captain. He did not know if Captain Nemo was telling the truth. He waited to see what would happen next.