The next morning was November 18th. Professor Aronnax felt better after his long walk. He went up to the platform on top of the ship. The second officer was there. The officer said his strange sentence again.
Captain Nemo appeared a few minutes later. He did not talk to Professor Aronnax. He used tools to look at the sun and the stars. He wanted to find the position of the ship. When he finished, he looked at the ocean for a long time.
Many sailors came onto the platform. These men were strong and healthy. They were from many different countries like France, Ireland, and Greece. They spoke their own secret language. They began to pull in large nets from the water.
The nets were full of fish. The sailors caught about 450 kilograms of fish that morning. There were many different types of fish for food. The sailors sent the fish down to the kitchen. The Nautilus always had a lot of fresh food from the sea.
The ship took in fresh air. Professor Aronnax wanted to go to his room. But Captain Nemo turned to him and began to speak. Captain Nemo said that the ocean was a living thing. He said the water moved like blood moves in a body.
Captain Nemo loved the ocean. He said that people could live under the water. He imagined building cities at the bottom of the sea. In these cities, people would be free. But then Captain Nemo looked angry. He made a sharp movement with his hand and stopped talking.
Captain Nemo asked Professor Aronnax about the depth of the ocean. Professor Aronnax told him about the Atlantic Ocean. Some parts of that ocean are 12,000 meters deep. Captain Nemo said the Pacific Ocean was about 4,000 meters deep in this area. Then Captain Nemo went back inside the ship.
The Nautilus moved at twenty miles every hour. Many weeks passed. Professor Aronnax did not see Captain Nemo very often. The ship moved toward the south-east. On November 27th, they reached the islands of Hawaii. Professor Aronnax saw tall mountains and volcanoes (mountains with fire and hot rock inside).
On December 1st, the ship crossed the equator. On December 4th, they saw the Marquesas Islands. The Nautilus traveled 2,000 miles in one week. They were now very far from where they started. They had traveled many leagues (a league is a distance of about five kilometers).
On December 11th, Professor Aronnax was reading a book in the saloon. Ned Land and Conseil were looking out the windows. The Nautilus was 1,000 meters deep in the water. Suddenly, Conseil called to Professor Aronnax. Conseil wanted the professor to look at something.
Professor Aronnax went to the window. He saw a large black object in the water. It did not move. At first, he thought it was a very large whale. Then he realized it was a shipwreck (a ship that sank to the bottom of the sea).
The ship was in good condition. It sank only a few hours before. The masts were broken and the ship lay on its side. It was a very sad sight. Professor Aronnax saw dead bodies on the deck of the ship.
He saw four men and a young woman. The woman held a small baby in her arms. She held the baby high above her head. She wanted to save the child from the water. The bodies were tied to the ship with ropes.
The captain of the ship was still at the wheel. He looked very calm. His grey hair moved in the water. He still looked like he was steering the ship. This was a terrible scene. Huge sharks were swimming toward the ship to eat the bodies.
The Nautilus moved around the dead ship. Professor Aronnax could see the name of the ship on the back. The name of the ship was The Florida. It was from a town called Sunderland.