Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas: A World Tour Underwater (French: Vingt mille lieues sous les mers: Tour du monde sous-marin) is a classic science fiction adventure novel by French writer Jules Verne.<br />The novel was originally serialized from March 1869 through June 1870 in Pierre-Jules Hetzel&#39;s fortnightly periodical. The book is regarded as one of the premiere adventure novels and one of Verne&#39;s greatest works, along with Around the World in Eighty Days and Journey to the Center of the Earth. Its depiction of Captain Nemo&#39;s underwater ship, the Nautilus, is regarded as ahead of its time, since it accurately describes many features of today&#39;s submarines.<br /><br />During the year 1866, ships of various nationalities sight a mysterious sea monster, which, it is later suggested, might be a gigantic narwhal. The U.S. government assembles an expedition in New York City to find and destroy the monster. Professor Pierre Aronnax, a French marine biologist and the story&#39;s narrator, is in town at the time and receives a last-minute invitation to join the expedition; he accepts. Canadian whaler and master harpooner Ned Land and Aronnax&#39;s faithful manservant Conseil are also among the participants.<br />The expedition leaves Brooklyn aboard the United States Navy frigate Abraham Lincoln, then travels south around Cape Horn into the Pacific Ocean. After a five-month search ending off Japan, the frigate locates and attacks the monster, which damages the ship&#39;s rudder. Aronnax and Land are hurled into the sea, and Conseil jumps into the water after them. They survive by climbing onto the &quot;monster,&quot; which, they are startled to find, is a futuristic submarine. They wait on the deck of the vessel until morning, when they are captured, hauled inside, and introduced to the submarine&#39;s mysterious constructor and commander, Captain Nemo.<br />The rest of the novel describes the protagonists&#39; adventures aboard the Nautilus, which was built in secrecy and now roams the seas beyond the reach of land-based governments. In self-imposed exile, Captain Nemo seems to have a dual motivation &mdash; a quest for scientific knowledge and a desire to escape terrestrial civilization. Nemo explains that his submarine is electrically powered and can conduct advanced marine research; he also tells his new passengers that his secret existence means he cannot let them leave &mdash; they must remain on board permanently...||Wikipedia|<br /><br />&nbsp;