Mysterious Island

Mysterious Island: Jules Verne

Translation: Google, Gemini

E-isbn (İng): 978-625-6020-57-3

Year of Printing: 2025

It cannot be reproduced, published or distributed without permission from the publishing house, except for short quotations for promotional purposes, provided that the source is cited.

Publication and Distribution: Özlem Publishing House

Yenibati Mahallesi Uğrak İş Merkezi No: 61

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Trademark Registration: 2012 / 35576

Publisher Certificate: 53253

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The Mysterious Island

“Are we descending?”

“No.”

“Then what's happening?”

“We're falling, captain, we're falling!”

“Then let's jettison the ballast!”

“I'm throwing the last sack now.”

“Has anything changed? Have we started to rise?”

“No, we're still going down.”

“Is there any more weight to throw out? Shall we throw it all?”

“I can hear the sound of the waves right now. The sea is below us, 150 meters left until we hit the water.”

This conversation took place on March 25, 1865, in a balloon traveling over the ocean. The balloon, caught in an air current, was spinning on its own axis. A waterspout had formed over the ocean, throwing the balloon off balance and causing it to descend towards the sea.

There were five people in the basket beneath the balloon. Since they hadn't taken off during the storm, they must have come from very far away, because the storm had been raging continuously for five days in their location.

Just as the balloon was about to be submerged, it began to rise again. The 1,500 cubic meters of air inside the balloon had saved it from falling into the sea at the last moment.

When the storm subsided, the balloon rose to 600 meters, but it was noticed that gas was leaking from a small tear. It was impossible to repair it. The five people in the basket began to throw their personal belongings into the sea to save their lives. Their only goal was to land on a piece of land before nightfall.

After waiting for two hours, rising and falling, one of the people in the basket asked:

“Is there anything else that's weighing us down?”

“We've thrown out everything except the 2,000 gold pieces in the bag,” said another.

After some argument among them, the heavy bag of gold was also thrown into the sea. The fear of death had made the balloonists forget everything else. In a moment when the urgency of saving their lives outweighed the desire for wealth, the gold sank into the sea, but the balloon still would not rise.

After a discussion, they finally decided to throw the basket itself to lighten the gas-leaking balloon. The five people held onto the balloon's ropes, and the basket's ropes were cut. The basket fell into the sea with a loud crash. With nothing but the vast, boundless sea beneath them, the five people had done all they could. The rest was up to God.

In the evening, the balloon was sailing 120 meters above the sea, carried by the winds. At that moment, the dog with the balloonists started barking and scratching its owner's chest. Then a deep voice called out:

“Land!... Land is in sight! The dog must have sensed it.”

A piece of land was visible to the southwest. However, there were thirty miles between them and the land. They couldn't reach it in less than an hour. Moreover, it was unclear which direction the balloon would go or if it would fall into the sea.

Half an hour after the land was spotted, the balloon came dangerously close to the water. The five people and the dog, dragged along by the balloon with great difficulty, sometimes crashed into the waves. After the basket was cut, the balloon's ropes were no longer balanced. It was moving sideways due to the weight.

Just a mile from the land, which they couldn't tell was an island or a continent, the balloon suddenly shot up. A strong wind skimming the waves had lifted the balloon up. As the balloon slowly descended, it moved parallel to the shore, not inland. With the combined effort of the balloonists, the balloon was forcibly landed on the beach. After the men cut the nets and got off, the balloon, now lightened, suddenly rose and disappeared from sight.

Once on the beach, they realized that one of their friends was missing. As the raging waves had crashed against the balloon and lifted it, their friend must have slipped through the ropes and fallen into the water. The four men frantically headed back in the direction they had come from to rescue their missing friend.

The American Civil War was raging. When the Northerners attacked the Southerners, many soldiers were taken prisoner. These five people in the balloon were among those prisoners. They had managed to escape from their unit where they were being held captive in this balloon. One of the escapees was Captain Harding, who was also a skilled engineer. The journalist Spilet was another one of the prisoners. The Captain and the journalist had become friends in the prison camp and had started looking for an opportunity to escape together.

One afternoon, the Captain's loyal servant, Neb, came to the camp. The Captain, being against slavery, had given this Black servant his freedom, but Neb had not left the Captain's side. The servant had done the necessary groundwork for the Captain's escape.

At that time, a balloon had been prepared in the camp to rescue the prisoners from the Southerners. Filled with necessary supplies and enough food, this balloon was supposed to cross the battle line from the air and reach the prisoners. However, due to bad weather, the balloon was waiting on the field, ready for takeoff.

As the Captain was walking on the field, someone approached him. He asked, “Are you thinking of escaping, Captain?”

The Captain asked the man who he was and how he knew he wanted to escape.

The man, who introduced himself as a sailor named Penco, said they could escape with the balloon waiting on the field.

“If I knew how to use a balloon as well as I know how to sail, I would escape from here with my young friend Herbet right away,” he said.

The plan was good, but it was also very dangerous. The Captain didn't want to miss such an opportunity. He said he could manage the balloon. After thinking for a moment, he said, “I'm not alone. I have friends who want to escape.”

“How many of you are there?” the sailor asked.

“Two friends and me.”

“With Herbert and me, there will be five of us in total. The balloon can hold six people.”

“Five is even too many.”

“Alright, we have a deal.”

The Captain and the sailor parted ways, agreeing to meet on the field that night. The night was very dark due to the fog. Since the storm was raging, they didn't think it was necessary to put a guard by the balloon. The conditions were favorable for the prisoners to escape.

At midnight, the five prisoners who wanted to escape arrived at the field from different directions. They could barely see the balloon through the fog. The balloon was tied to a ring embedded in the concrete with ropes.

Captain Harding, Sailor Penco, Journalist Spilet, Neb the servant, and the sailor's friend Herbert entered the basket one by one. All they needed to do to take off was cut the ropes. As the ropes were silently cut, the Captain's dog, Top, jumped into the basket. Although the Captain loved his dog very much, he wanted to throw it out of the basket to reduce the weight, but the other prisoners stopped him, arguing that the dog's weight wasn't much. After the sandbags were thrown out and the ropes were cut, the balloon suddenly took off.

After they took off, they realized the severity of the storm. In fear, they were dragged in an unknown direction. Five days later, they crashed onto a beach seven thousand miles away from their country, but the Captain and his dog had disappeared from the balloon after it hit the waves.

The four friends who landed on the beach walked back to search for the missing Captain and his dog. After walking for half an hour, the land ended. The sea was calm, and the storm had subsided, but there was no one in sight. They ran back and forth tirelessly. Even though it was evening, they couldn't find the Captain.

At night, they lay down on the sand, exhausted. They were sad about the Captain. The Southern Cross shining in the sky showed that they were very far from their home.

In the morning, they had a better chance to examine the surroundings. They walked along the shore, not taking their eyes off the sea. A ninety-meter-high cliff stretched along the coast. At the end of this black cliff was a chasm. Behind the cliff, they could see greenery and trees. It was impossible to tell whether this was an island or a continent. If it was a place where ships didn't stop, their death would be inevitable.

The journalist took Neb with him and went to search for the Captain. The sailor and Herbert set out to find a shelter. When they entered the rocks that rose like a wall, they came across a stream. The water in the stream was fresh and clean. At the point where the stream flowed into the sea, there were deep rock hollows. They planned to close one of these hollows and make it a shelter. They gathered branches from the surrounding area and piled them at the entrance of the hollow.

When the journalist and the servant returned, the hut for five people was ready, but the Captain had not been found. No one spoke. Since they couldn't find any footprints either, they concluded that the Captain had drowned in the open sea. That night, they tried to sleep in the shelter in sorrow.

In the morning, the journalist woke up hearing some sounds. He immediately shook and woke up the sailor Penco.

“Do you hear a sound?” he asked.

“What sound are you talking about?” Penco said.

“A sound like a dog...”

“That must be the sound of the wind.”

“I think it's a dog's bark.”

Meanwhile, the others also woke up. They all listened carefully to the surroundings. They concluded that a dog's bark was coming from a distance. They immediately left the hut and headed towards the direction of the sound. A strong wind was blowing outside. They could barely walk in the dark, holding on to the rocks.

Soon, the dog's bark got closer. It was Top, the Captain's dog. This purebred dog had caught their scent. The journalist, hugging the dog, said, “Top didn't drown, so the Captain must be alive. Let's go, friends!”

The dog in the front, and the four friends behind, they started walking. Despite the wind's hindrance, they trusted the dog's intuition and followed it until morning. In the daylight, Top showed his distress by going back and forth. A little later, he went over the sand dune and headed towards the cliff. He kept barking at the entrance of a hollow in the rocks.

The four friends immediately plunged into the cave. They saw the Captain lying inside. The sailor Penco immediately knelt down and listened to the Captain's chest. These moments felt as long as a year for them. Penco shouted, “He's alive! He's alive! But his pulse is very weak.”

At this, Neb the servant ran to get water from the sea for his master. When he couldn't find a container to carry the water, he wet his handkerchief. They wiped the Captain's lips with the wet handkerchief. Under the effect of the cold water, the Captain's chest started to rise and fall. The journalist expressed his joy, “The Captain will be saved!”

They carried the Captain from the cave to a flat place. They made a bed out of dry moss. They took off their clothes and covered him with them.

The Captain only regained consciousness the next day. He groaned and said, “Where are we, friends?”

“On an island or at the tip of a continent,” they said. After sitting up a little, the Captain asked, “Could you make a fire? Is there anything to eat?”

His friends, who were happy that he was found, were distressed that they couldn't give him any food.

“We haven't been able to make a fire yet,” they said. The Captain, who had returned from the brink of death, gave his friends morale by saying, “We'll solve the fire problem.”

Indeed, everyone's spirits lifted, but they didn't know where they were. What would they eat? How would they live here until they were rescued? The Captain stood up and said:

“My friends, our situation is bad. If this is an extension of a continent, we must walk and reach people. If it's a deserted island, we must work as if we are settling here. I think the storm threw us somewhere in the ocean.”

The journalist expressed his surprise, “Settle here?” Penco said, “Even if it's a deserted island, we must live with the hope that ships will one day stop here.”

“Don't rush, my friends,” the Captain said. “We'll understand the situation when we climb to the top of the mountain.”

“Do you feel strong enough to climb the mountain?”

“I hope to be fully recovered tomorrow. This also depends on our hunting. We can't find strength by starving.”

They went to bed late that night. In the morning, three people set off early for hunting. The dog, wagging its tail continuously, seemed to have caught the scent of prey. Penco, Neb, and Herbert were advancing in the forest, hoping to find something to hunt. Meanwhile, they were discussing how to make a fire.

Neb said reproachfully, “Don't you trust my master, the Captain?” The sailor, on the other hand, tried to explain that a lightning strike was needed to start a fire.

They were walking without coming across any game. The dog was only startling the birds, but when they ran after the dog, which had disappeared among the trees for a moment, they saw it struggling with an animal. This boar-like animal escaped from the dog's teeth and plunged into a nearby lake.

Neb suggested waiting, saying, “It's going to surface anyway.”

Indeed, the wounded animal surfaced after a while. The dog pounced on it and dragged it out. Neb then hunted the animal with his stick. Penco, in a cheerful mood, carried the animal on his shoulder. As they were approaching the camp, Penco shouted, “Look over there, smoke is rising!”

They started running in excitement. The Captain and the journalist were at the fire. Penco asked, “How did this happen? Who lit the fire?” The journalist pointed to the Captain.

“He lit the fire by holding the glass from his watch up to the sun,” he said.

The meat of the prey was very delicious. They were full. The leftover meat could last them for one more day.

The exhausted castaways, with their stomachs full of meat, fell into a deep sleep.

In the morning, they started climbing the mountain early. After walking for about seven hours, they reached a flat area. This place was covered with greenery. Everyone wanted to set up a camp and rest there. The Captain took Herbert and climbed to the top of the peak. He was curious to know if this was an island or a piece of continent. When they reached the top, they became hopeless. The Captain murmured, “A small island in the middle of a boundless ocean.”

One side of the island was barren, and the other was green. When they returned, they told their friends about the situation.

“We are sorry we couldn't bring you any good news,” they said.

The next day, they all climbed the mountain together. They tried to draw a map by examining the surroundings. They completed the map by giving a name to every place. They named the promontory that stretched like a snake's tail “Snake Point.”

They were very surprised when they saw the mouth of the volcano and the lake near it. The Captain stated that the height of this lake from the sea level would be at least ninety meters.

Meanwhile, they discussed that although every bay and peak had been named, the island had not been given a name. The Captain proposed, “Let's name the island after Lincoln, who fought for the unity of America.” This proposal was accepted with joy. Thus, the island was named “Lincoln Island.”

As they were descending from the mountain, they started walking along the shore of the lake that had caught their attention, thus examining the interesting lake. As the five friends were walking along the shore, the dog barked and threw itself into the water. As they were calling the dog back, the head of a huge animal came out of the water. It was a dugong. The giant animal attacked the dog, which was trying to get to the shore. At that moment, with a pressure that appeared in the water, the dog was thrown three meters into the air. It fell back into the water. Something was happening in the lake. The dog barely managed to get to the shore and save itself.

After that, all five of them kept their eyes on the lake. The lake's waters were stained red. Soon, the dugong appeared on the surface of the water. It was dragged to the southern shore of the lake and washed ashore.

They immediately ran to it. The giant animal had a wound on its chest as if it had been opened with a knife. What kind of sea creature could have killed this animal in this way? They came back to this lake the next day to solve this mystery, but they could not see any movement in the lake. Only the Captain noticed that the lake opened into an underground river. He said that the water level had to be lowered to find the mouth of the river.

While they were busy hunting, they also worked on the Captain's proposal. After ten days of effort, this incredible feat was accomplished. The Captain had obtained a substance that exploded like dynamite from the island's granite and chemicals. With this substance, he blew up the weakest part of the lake, allowing the water to flow out. When the water level dropped, the mouth of the river was also revealed. The islanders, who widened the mouth of the river, managed to drain the water completely.

To enter the tunnel that appeared, they lit up resinous branches and held them. With the Captain leading the way, they advanced in the tunnel that was once full of water. After a short time, the tunnel had widened enough to walk upright. This place, where human feet had set foot for the first time, excited them. The dog's echoing voice came from the depths in a way that made their hair stand on end. The Captain called out to his dog, “Top, where are you? Wait for us!” The dog's barks quickened. They went down a little faster and reached it. They realized that the place where the dog was located was a very large cave. There was no living creature in sight, but Top kept barking. Finally, the Captain reached the dog's location. He noticed that there was a passage. He turned to his friends and said:

“The waters of the lake must be flowing into the sea from here.”

This place where the water fell was very steep. The Captain estimated its height from the sea level to be twenty-seven meters by calculating the speed of the water and the time that had passed.

“What do you say we stay here?” he asked his friends.

The Captain's proposal was accepted. This giant cave had been found by chance. Since the waters would not return, this could be a good shelter.

The next day, they managed to open a hole on the sea side of the cave. Later, they also opened a door. They covered the door with pieces of wood. A small amount of water was also flowing inside the cave. Thus, they had a secure place with water inside.

Winter in the Southern Hemisphere started in June. The islanders, who prepared for winter by hunting a lot, had stocked up a good amount of food in their granite house. Since they were protected from rain and snow, they had no trouble with shelter, but they could not solve the clothing problem. In winter, they needed animal skins for clothing and blankets.

The crude weapons they made from the minerals they found on the island had brought some comfort to the five islanders. They had even built bridges from these minerals at two places they often crossed. When they also made candles from the seal they hunted, they reduced their environmental problems during the day and night.

One day, when Herbert took out two corn kernels from his vest pocket, everyone rejoiced. They planned to plant and multiply the corn as if they would stay on the island for years. The Captain said, “Our hope for bread has also appeared.” “We'll first plant the corn in one place, and when it multiplies, we'll plant it everywhere and make bread from its flour.”

The journalist also chimed in, “Even when a person is struggling to survive, they have to think about the future.”

The next day, they ceremoniously planted these corn kernels in the soil.

The winter that started in June lasted until mid-August. During the winter, the five islanders did not leave their granite house much. They brought in spring by telling each other stories, tales, and jokes.

During the winter, more rabbits and foxes fell into the traps they set. Some clothes were made from the skins of these animals.

On October 24, Penco, who went to check the traps, found two female pigs and their two piglets. He killed one of the pigs himself without leaving it for Neb. He cut the meat into pieces. As the roasted pig was being eaten with appetite by the five people, Penco shouted, “Oh, my God!”

When they asked, “What's wrong? What happened?”, Penco said he had broken his tooth.

This tooth had not broken on its own while eating the pork. Penco handed the hard object he had taken out of his mouth to his friends. It was a bullet. It had come from among the pork. The Captain asked, “Since we didn't shoot this pig with a bullet, who do you think did?”

The journalist said, “Someone had wounded this animal with a weapon before. So it didn't die, but who wounded it? That's what's important.”

Penco said, “Someone came to this island before us. Either for a visit or as a result of a crash, like us.”

Herbert said, “Maybe they are still on the island. We should be careful.”

There was also talk of the possibility of Malay pirates coming. The discussion about the bullet continued late into the night. Meanwhile, the Captain said, “Let's build a canoe and launch it into the sea from the river. We can go around the island with it and check if there is anyone.”

Sailor Penco said, “We can finish a canoe like the Indians' in five days.”

On October 28, Herbert and Neb saw a giant turtle about two miles from the granite house. This green turtle, whose meat was very delicious, weighed about two hundred kilograms. Since it was difficult to carry this giant turtle to the granite house, they turned it upside down with spears. Thus, they prevented it from escaping because a giant turtle that is turned upside down has to stay in the same place as it cannot turn back.

Herbert and Neb came to the shelter to get the wheelbarrow to carry this turtle. When they returned two hours later, they couldn't find the turtle where they had left it. Neb didn't want to mention this to his friends because they had missed this opportunity. Herbert, on the other hand, thought the opposite.

“We must tell our friends about this,” he said.