USS Nautilus and the Nemo connection

I recently had the opportunity of visiting the US Navy's Submarine Museum, which includes the historic ship USS Nautilus: the world's first nuclear powered vessel and the first submarine to transit across the Arctic and the North Pole.

Its always wonderful to visit a historic vessel and Nautilus was no exception.
During the visit I made three key observations:
- Submarines haven't really changed in design at all since WW2, and even then there only was modest evolution from WW1
- Some of the exact same equipment in Nautilus is still used today (e.g. sound powered telephones)
- In 1957 the French Navy presented the Nautilus with a unique gift which is displayed in her main deck passageway:

And yes, its an authentic version...in French!

Captain Nemo and a certain French author would be proud I think!

UnMuseum

Some fun "relics" and bits and bobs here, including the possessions of Professor Aronnax!
www.unmuseum.org/notescurator/league_art.htm

28mm Nautilus

is now available from HLBS!
http://www.hlbs.co.uk/product.php?id=782

Les Mystères du Nautilus

During our recent visit to Paris, we surprised the Lad with a surprise trip to EuroDisney.  Aside from the other great bits about this day out was the "The Mysteries of the Nautilus" walk-through attraction, based on the 1954 Disney adaptation of 20,000 Leagues under the Sea (starring James Mason as Captain Nemo).

As a big fan of the movie (despite its departure from the novel) I really enjoyed this attraction and took a bunch of pictures.  Amused at my detailed observations, SWMBO reminded me at one point that it wasn't a museum at one point!  Anyway, I took a bunch of pictures from a modelling/design perspective.  The quality isn't great because of the lighting and crowds, but from an architectural perspective they do the job.


Captain Nemo's Cabin : This cabin shows the Captain's belongings and bunk.  One bulkhead is the main navigation chart, which has a neat brass armature which appears to track the submarine's position (which BTW was in the northern part of the Sandwich Islands)

The Chart Room : This room is the hub of the Nautilus, with staircases ascending to the wheelhouse and the main deck above (although these cannot be visited). Several charts are displayed, including one representing Vulcania (which I have posted here: http://pauljamesog.blogspot.com/2008/09/vulcania.html), Nemo's lair in the movie.  The others were mostly of islands and areas in the Pacific Ocean (so no divulging the secret location of Altlantis!)

The Diving Chamber : In the center of this small chamber is a water well and diving suits hang on the wall.

The Main Salon : This is the heart of the Nautilus with books and  treasures of the sea gathered here. The Captain's organ stands on the far side and you can see Nemo's reflection when staring at the mirror just above the keys. One scuttle opens on the ocean's depths and you to witness the attack of the giant squid. As it approaches, its beak reaches for the submarine then gets repulsed by an electric charge.

The Engine Room : sadly no detail here or looking into the reactor like on the movie.

So overall I really enjoyed it in a nerdy VSF kind of way that few can appreciate!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Myst%C3%A8res_du_Nautilus



And some more pics taken by others of this attraction:
http://www.20kride.com/photos_other_p2.html

Captain Nemo

A great protrayal in lead by "Orctrader" at the Lead Adventure Forum.

He has used a 25mm Parroom Station figue in the Disney style of portraying the good Captain.

http://www.lead-adventure.de/index.php?topic=7199.0

Bravo!

20,000 Leagues under the Sea Conflict Analysis

I found this interesting short essay online (link below), which details has some interesting aspects about character interactions in 20kluts.

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Summary: Science is meant for the progression of man, but using science for evil can also lead to the downfall of men. In 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, by Jules Verne, a scientific fiction novel, that explains the conflict between man vs nature, there are conflicts in the story, the conflict effects the surrounding characters.

Science is meant for the progression of man, but using science for evil can also lead to the downfall of men. In 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, by Jules Verne, a scientific fiction novel, that explains the conflict between man vs nature. There are conflicts in the story, the conflict effects the surrounding characters, but in the end, the conflict is resolved.

The novel, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, is generally about a ship called the Nautilus, who is led by Captain Nemo, which reeks chaos and terror amount the sea. The characters: Dr. Pierre Aronnax, Conseil, and Ned Land are imprisoned in the ship, which is the main conflict in the story. The main character, Aronnax, and the antagonist, Captain Nemo, the main conflict between them is the concept of freedom. Even though Aronnax is fond of the science, he does not approve of the way Captain Nemo attacks and kill innocent people. Captain Nemo is mysterious and paranoid, his hatred for mankind is because of their corruption. “So it was a sad day I spent, between my wish to regain freedom and my regret at saying goodbye to the marvelous Nautilus…” –Aronnax. This quote represents Aronnax’s main conflict, he cannot stay with the Nautilus because he must help his friends, even though he is fascinated by the knowledge he can obtain by the Nautilus. The conflict between Aronnax and Captain Nemo is that Captain Nemo is keeping Aronnax’s friends captives of the ship. The main conflict of Aronnax is that he has to choose between science vs the freedom of his fellow man.

The conflict between Aronnax and Captain Nemo effect the characters around them. Aronnax effect his fellow crewman, Ned Land, because Aronnax is too busy using the opportunities that he receives from the Nautilus to study science, while Ned Land prefers to plan a way to successfully escape the Nautilus. Not only does Ned Land want to escape the ship, but also he dislikes the way Captain Nemo kills whales. Ned Land states that he is a hunter, not a butcher. Aronnax also effects his servant, Conseil, because since Aronnax’s actions also effect Conseil’s action because Conseil is a servant that is always loyal and never complains to his master, Aronnax, so whatever Aronnax chooses to do, that action will also have a chain effect on Conseil’s actions. Conseil is so loyal that he would stay to Aronnax till the end. This is the same idea how Captain Nemo effects his crewmembers also because they too are loyal to Captain Nemo and are willing to do anything for him, even commit suicide in the whirlpool.

The conflict is resolved in the end, when Captain Nemo commits suicide by getting his ship along with his crewmembers intentionally caught in the raging whirlpool. Even though Captain Nemo and his crewmembers are probably dead, but fortunately Aronnax, Ned Land, and Conseil manage to escape the ship in time and are rescued by fishermen. Aronnax, though his journey with the Nautilus is over and also has lost the chance of a life time to study marine life more extensively because having Nautilus’s ability causes more quality study of the marine life. In the end, Aronnax chooses the freedom of his fellowman over science, but Aronnax doesn’t leave empty handed because he learned so much from his journey, such as the marine life and submarine construction. While returning to France, Aronnax rewrites his memories and wisdom of his journey under the sea.

In conclusion, not all science benefit men, they sometimes corrupt them and cause them to create terror among the innocent. The conflict in the story effect and change the characters, but in the end, the conflict is eventually resolved. The conflict of the story causes the characters to react in their own way, which shows the quality of each character.

http://www.bookrags.com/essay-2005/9/18/19258/6978

Vulcania

I got this wonderful chart of Vulcania from the nice chaps at Disney - thank you indeed kind Sirs!


click here for full version: http://s35.photobucket.com/albums/d170/pauljamesog/Aeronef/?action=view&current=Vulcnia.jpg

I've always wanted to make a model of this - perhaps it would make a good Chritsmas holiday project, but I think the addition of a drigible pad would also be prudent!

Back to the drawing board...

It has been quite a while since there's been an update on Project Nautilus but let us not interpret silence and inactivity. Computer aided design (or CAD) has generally not been possible on MAC platforms — until a comparatively recent upgrade. Rather than wedging the past notion of the venerable submarine into previously seen imaginings, I returned to the source material and have produced the above skeleton.

Hopefully, it will not be so very long until the next update and an actual model. The CADwork is to get the measurements right for a 28mm scale production.

Pinging the Nautilus hunter...

Wizkids Games makes a very clever "constructible" card game under the name "Pirates." They have released ten sets but the best of them must undeniably be "Pirates of the Mysterious Islands" — as it contains the most famous Nautilus.



For those of you who may yet be unfamiliar with the game — the purchasing strategy of a box of 36 booster packs will gather most of the ships, crew, and treasure that constitute any given expansion. In a quest for the Nautilus, which is a rare card, I've bought two such boxes but was not rewarded with the sought submarine.

It becomes more cost-effective at that point to resort to eBay for filling in the holes of one's collection. I did not honestly expect to find Nemo's vessel and was pleasantly surprised to be proven incorrect.

But I'm aware that Tas is hunting the submarine as well. The seller was offering TWO! I wonder if I can rely on the post to get it to the antipodes before the close of the year.

Vulcania Submarines...

Vulcania Submarines...

for all your "Extraordinary Submersibles and Diving Equipment" needs, including vintage scuba gear, Nemo's helmet, a working underwater Nemo Rifle and the Journal of Professor P. Arronax!

http://www.vulcaniasubmarine.com/

A paper on the Nautilus...

It is — at times — quite a surprise what can be found when one is looking for some entirely different thing.

http://jleslie48.com/0305n/ETHtml01.htm
The model is fantastic and very well designed. I imagine it will take several attempts before a satisfactory build results, but that's one of the advantages of a paper model. :)

Beat to quarters and secure the deck for action!

Most of building the Nautilus is flat-panel work. When you decide to adopt this view, the task becomes far less daunting. The remaining tricky part of this stage is getting the angles and dimensions properly planned out. That's what's in progress now and will soon be enhance via a new CAD program.

In the meantime, I am ordering the parts that are be beyond my present sculpting skills regardless of CAD help.

From Reviresco:

These doors will be part of the Pilot house, Nemo's cabin, Salon/Museum, Library, Engine room, and the Diving chamber.


I mainly needed two of the Engine Order Telegraph pieces; one will go in the Pilot house and the other in the Engine room.

From The London War Room

These doors will be used for the smaller "port and starboard" rooms that are not designated with a letter (seen a few posts ago).

Continuing the tour...

Here we see the correction of the previous illustrations. The dimensions of certain rooms have been altered. Additionally, Nemo's quarters has been moved to another deck, just below and just ahead of the pilot house. The galley has been expanded and moved to just aft of the dining room. The chamber shown as "X" is the diving preparation room.

All the spaces not designated with a letter serve as storage or spare cabins (though we must imagine visitors are exceptionally rare).

This will likely be the last post of schematics. Our project will move to 3D construction quite soon.

Captain No-one

Having gone a little Nemo crazy this week at WWS(and there is nothing wrong with that!), I thought it would be interesting to think about the man more in depth.

Captain Nemo is a unique and interesting character who was left deliberately vague in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Thus, he has been represented in different ways by those who wish to depict the genius behind the Nautilus.

One of the major differences are the portrayals of his heritage. Some depictions are European, others more Indian. Recently, I found this explanation on wiki, which was interesting:


"In the initial draft of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Nemo was a Polish noble vengeful because of the murder of his family during the Russian repression of the Polish insurrection of 1863-1864. Verne's editor Pierre-Jules Hetzel feared a book ban in the Russian market and offending a French ally, the Russian Empire. He made Verne obscure Nemo's motivation in the first book. However, Nemo reveals an Indian ancestry in a scene where he saves a South Indian fisherman while on a scuba dive.

It is in the sequel that Nemo presents himself as Prince Dakkar, the Hindu son of the Rajah of Bundelkund and nephew of Tippoo Sahib, having a deep hatred of the British conquest of India. After the Sepoy mutiny, he devotes himself to scientific research and develops an advanced electric submarine, the Nautilus. He and a crew of his followers cruise the seas, battling injustice, especially slavery. The gold of Spanish ships sunk at the Bay of Vigo provided them with money."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Nemo

You can read the chapter detailing Nemo's life online here: http://jv.gilead.org.il/kravitz/3/16.html

This Indian theme was continued in both the comic and movie of "The League of Extraordinary Gentlmen", in which the Captain's death at Mysterious Island was faked in order to disperse international interest in him. Then he went to work in secret with Her Majesty's Government.

Captain Nemo was also portrayed in a self-titled Japanese Manga series, but this time back as a European.

Kevin Anderson has written two books on the adventures of a young Nemo in company with a young French gentlemen named Mssr Verne.

Read a review of the first book here:

http://www.scifi.com/sfw/books/sfw7991.html

According to wikpedia, Nemo has been portrayed in film and TV by the following actors:

James Mason played Captain Nemo in the Walt Disney film 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954). His is the most famous portrayal.
Herbert Lom played Captain Nemo in Mysterious Island (1961)
Robert Ryan played Captain Nemo in Captain Nemo and the Underwater City (1969)
Omar Sharif played Captain Nemo in La Isla misteriosa y el capitán Nemo (1973)
Len Carlson played Captain Mark Nemo in the very loosely connected animated series The Undersea Adventures of Captain Nemo in the mid-1970s.
José Ferrer played Captain Nemo in the TV movie and short lived TV-series The Return of Captain Nemo (1978)
John Bach played Captain Nemo in the TV series Mysterious Island (1995)
Michael Caine played Captain Nemo in the ABC-TV miniseries 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1997)
Ben Cross played Captain Nemo in the NBC-TV movie 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1997)
Naseeruddin Shah played Captain Nemo (unmistakably as an Indian Lord) in the film adaptation of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003)
Patrick Stewart played Captain Nemo in the TV movie Mysterious Island (2005)

Finally, there is a great set of Captain Nemo links here:

http://chilembwe.net/captain_nemo/origin.html

Returning to the Piscine of the Crime...

I wasn't entirely happy with the recent illustration of the Nautilus. Tonight, inspired by a picture of a rabbit fish washed ashore by a recent tsunami, I created a new view of the main deck.

Sometimes a Cigar is...

I have some Nautilus plans coming in the mail but I'm not one to let that stop me from art.

Here is the initial draft of the main deck of our submarine. The code for rooms (adjacent to the letters, of course) is as follows:

A = a kind of guest room
N = Nemo's quarters
S = Salon/Museum
L = Library
C = another cabin
G = Galley
B = Berthing for the crew
E = Engine room

The Quest for Great Nautilus...

My first experience with VSF was 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas. This may, in fact, have been the first novel (regardless of genre) I ever read. For quite some time, Captain Nemo has been lurking in the back of my head but he's recently inspired a gaming quest.

Let's start our tour with the essential 28mm miniature - The Captain Nemo from the London War Room.

I first became aware of this company through another VSF fascination; that being Mars. I'd already assembled a small, mixed unit of City Dwellers before I noticed the Extraordinary Personages page. The Nemo figure immediately went on my "order this some time" list.

There are actually two versions of Nemo from the London War Room and I made my determination of which to buy based on availability of suitable miniatures for the Nautilus' crew. One cannot just have a Nemo without a submarine.

But there was one other figure that moved all the figures mentioned here from the "some time" list to the "now" category. Artizan Designs has recently released a Swami miniature and he immediately seemed to be a perfect "second in command/spiritual advisor" to our exceptional captain.



This made if fairly simple to narrow the field of searches for what I estimate to be a crew of fewer than 20. It was also helpful to have started the quest with a fair degree of familiarity with companies that make wide ranges of historical figures.

I must admit that I didn't look for every example of Indian/Sikh figures; I was filling a roster and planned to stop when that was accomplished. Three visits later - to Wargames Foundry, Perry Brothers, and Copplestone Castings - and the quest seemed complete.







These figures have all now arrived and the submarine is fully crewed. I may have to add a few from Castaway Arts; I discovered them after the last recruits reported for duty.

I added a few extra figures from Artizan Designs to justify the postage costs.







For similar, I revisited the Martian selections from Parroom Station. If you look at the Scout and some of the Hill Tribesmen, you'll notice a happy accident of simultaneous collecting.







I should note at this point, there's a female figure in IND232 that my wife informs me is Nemo's daughter. There's a tremendous number of roleplaying ideas in that statement.

And here's the Martian Scout:



Now, we need a Nautilus. I happen to have one of Comet Miniatures' efforts.



I bought it many years ago at a convention and have never painted it or mounted it on a base. It lurks (much as Nemo does in my mind) in my attic - but is no less loved for not being on display.

Our Excellent Host recently reminded me of the Comet Nautilus and that prompted a look on eBay to determine its value. This auction, now ended, shows the relative cost of finding one not-in-one's-attic. It turns out to be worth $36.67, with another $10 for shipping.

Upon visiting the closed auction, a "related item" gave me the VSF opportunity of a lifetime - if you'll pardon what may be a cliche.



I actually plan to use these blueprints to build a 28mm-scale model of the Nautilus. I haven't quite decided whether to build it in sections, with interior diorama spaces, or as one solid piece.