Music Welcome to snoozecast. The podcast is on to help you fall asleep. Find a set snoozecast.com and if you enjoy our show, please share us with a friend. wanted to listen to 20,000 leaks under the sea, for example, as a playlist, so you could either start from the beginning or play multiple episodes from just that story in a row. In case you didn't know Dear listeners, besides the primary snooze cast show, we also produce standalone versions of many of our continuing stories as their own separate podcasts for your convenience. Just search for snooze cast presents to find all the options available. And if you subscribe to snoozecast+, you get complete access to all these series, ad free. To learn more, go to snoozecast.com slash plus. This episode is brought to you by Cork Jackets. Tonight, we'll read the next part to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

The classic science fiction adventure novel by French writer Jules Verne. In the last episode, Captain Nemo informs the crew that the weather is improving and plans to go ashore for observations. an axe tries to bring that land, but the Canadian refuses.

After breakfast, they head to the shore, traveling a league inland to a peak with observation instruments. During the journey, they see various southern whales reaching the summit after a difficult climb. Captain Nemo takes barometric readings and declares they are at the South Pole. He raises a black banner with a gold end, claiming the land in his name. The next day, preparations to depart are made. The Nautilus encounters an iceberg, and after a terrible collision, it becomes trapped at an angle. The crew works to free the submarine, eventually writing it, but still, they are surrounded by ice. As they navigate through the icy tunnel,

they are dazzled by the refracted light. After another collision, and the realization that all exits are blocked, Captain Nemo confirms they are trapped by shifting ice. Let's get cozy. Close your eyes. Relax your body into the softness of your bed.

Now, take a few deep breaths. Chapter 16. WANT OF AIR Thus around the Nautilus, above and below, was an impenetrable wall of ice. We were prisoners to the iceberg. I watched the captain. His countenance had resumed its habitual imperturbability. Gentleman, he said calmly, there are two ways of dying in the circumstances in which we are placed. The puzzling person had the air of a mathematical professor lecturing to

his pupils. The first is to be crushed. The second is to die of suffocation. I do not speak of the possibility of dying of hunger, for the supply of provisions in the Nautilus will certainly last longer than we shall.

Let us then calculate our chances. As to suffocation, Captain, I replied, that is not to be feared because our reservoirs are full. Just so, but they will only yield two days supply of air. Now, for 36 hours we have been hidden under the water, and already the heavy atmosphere of the Nautilus requires renewal. In 48 hours, our reserve will be exhausted. Well, Captain, can we be delivered before 48 hours? We will attempt it at least by piercing the wall that surrounds us. On which side? Sound will tell us, I am going to run the nautilus aground on the lower bank, and my men will attack the iceberg on the side that is least thick." Captain Nimo went out, soon I discovered by hissing noise that the water was entering the reservoirs. The Nautilus sank slowly, and rested on the ice at a depth of 350 yards, the depth at which the lower bank was immersed. My friends, I said. Our situation is serious, but I rely on your courage and energy. Sir, we the Canadian. I am ready to do anything for the general safety. Good, Ned, and I held out my hand to the Canadian. I will add, he continued, that being as handy with the pickaxe as with the harpoon, if I can be useful to the captain, he can command my services. He will not refuse your help, come Ned. I led him to the room where the crew of the Nautilus were putting on their cork jackets. I told the captain of Ned's proposal which he accepted. The Canadian put on his sea costume and was ready as soon as his companions. When Ned was dressed, I re-entered the drawing-room where the pains of glass were open and deposed at near Konsei. I examined the ambient beds that supported the non-alus. Some instance after, we saw a dozen of the crews set foot on the bank of ice, and among them, an inland, easily known by his stature. Captain Nima was with them. Before proceeding to dig the walls, he took the soundings to be sure of working in the right direction. Long sounding lines were sunk in the side walls, but after fifteen yards they were again stopped by the thick wall. It was useless to attack it on the ceiling like surface, since the iceberg itself measured more than 400 yards in height. Captain Nemo then sounded at the lower surface. There, ten yards of wall separated us from the water. So great was the thickness of the ice field. It was necessary, therefore, to cut from it a piece equal in extent to the water line of the Nautilus. There were about 6,000 cubic yards to detach, so as to dig a hole by which we could descend to the ice field. The work had begun immediately, and carried on with intefaticable energy. Instead of digging round the non-liss which would have involved greater difficulty, Captain No had an immense trench made at eight yards from the port quarter. Then the men set to work simultaneously with their screws on several points of its circumference. Presently, the pickaxe attacked this compact matter vigorously, and large blocks were detached from the mass. By a curious effect of specific gravity, these blocks, lighter than water, fled, so to speak, to the vault of the tunnel that increased in thickness at the top and proportion as it diminished at the base. But that mattered little, so long as the lower part grew thinner. After two hours hard work, Ned Land came in, exhausted. He and his comrades were replaced by new workers, whom Kansai and I joined. The second lieutenant of the Nautilus super-intended us. The water seemed singularly cold, but I soon got warm handling the pickaxe. My movements were free enough, although they were made under a pressure of thirty atmospheres. When I re-intered, after working two hours to take some food and rest, I found a perceptible difference between the pure fluid, with which the Roku-erol engine supplied me and the atmosphere of the Nautilus already charged with carbonic acid.

The air had not been renewed for 48 hours, and its vivifying qualities were considerably in fee-bold. However, after a lapse of 12 hours, we had only raised a block of ice one yard thick on the marked surface, which was about 600 cubic yards. Reckoning that it took 12 hours to accomplish this much, it would take 5 nights and 4 days to bring this enterprise to a satisfactory conclusion. Five nights and four days, and we have only air enough for two days in the reservoir. Without taking into account, said Ned, that even if we get out of this infernal prison, we shall also be imprisoned under the iceberg,

shut out from all possible communication with the atmosphere. True enough,

who could then foresee the minimum of time necessary for our deliverance?

We might be suffocated before the non-lust could regain the surface of the waves. Was it destined to perish in this ice tomb? With all those it enclosed? The situation was terrible, but everyone had looked the danger in the face, face, and each was determined to do his duty

to the last. As I expected, during the night, a new block of yard square was carried away, and still further sank the immense hollow. in the morning. When dressed in my cork jacket, I traversed the slushy mass at a temperature of six or seven degrees below zero, I remarked that the side walls were gradually closing in. The beds of water farthest from the trench that were not warmed by the men's work, showed a tendency to solidification. In presence of this new and imminent danger, what would become of our chances of safety, and how hinder the solidification of this liquid medium that would burst the partitions of of the notalists like glass. I did not tell my companions of this new danger. What was the good of damping the energy they displayed in the painful work of escape? But when I went on board again, I told Captain Nemo of this grave complication. I know it," he said, in that calm tone which counteract the most terrible apprehensions. It is one danger more, but I see no way of escaping it. The only chance of safety is to go quicker than solidification. We must be beforehand with it. That is all. On this day for several hours I used my pickaxe vigorously. The work kept me up. Besides, to work was to quit the Nautilus and breathe directly the pure air drawn from the reservoirs and supplied by our apparatus and to quit the impoverished atmosphere. Towards evening the trench was dug one yard deeper.

When I returned on board, I was nearly suffocated by the carbonic acid, with which the air was filled. Ah, if we had only the chemical means to drive away this gas. We had plenty of oxygen. this water contained contained a considerable quantity, and by dissolving it with our powerful piles, it would restore the vivifying fluid. I had thought well over it, but of what good was that since the carbonic acid produced by our respiration had invaded every part of the vessel. To absorb it, it was necessary to fill some jars with caustic potash and to shake them incessantly. Now this substance was wanting on board, and nothing could replace it. On that evening, Captain Nemo ought to open the taps of his reservoirs, and let some pure air into the interior of the Nautilus. Without this precaution, we could not get rid of the sense of suffocation. The next day, March 26th, I resumed my miner's work in beginning the fifth yard. The side walls and the lower surface of the iceberg thickened visibly. was evident that they would meet before the

Nautilus was able to disengage itself. Despair seized me for an instant. My pickaxe nearly fell from my hands. What was the good of digging if I must be suffocated? Just then, Captain Nemo passed near me. I touched his hand and showed him the walls of our prison. The wall to port that advanced to at least four yards from the hall of the Nondles. The understood me, and signed me to follow him. We went on board. I took off my cork jacket, and accompanied him into the drawing room. As your air nags, we must attempt some desperate means where we shall be sealed up in this solidified water as in cement. Yes, but what is it to be done? Ah, if my notalists were strong enough to pair this pressure without being crushed. Well, I asked, not catching the captain's idea. Do you not understand? He replied, that this congealation of water will help us. Do you not see that by its solidification, it would burst through this field of ice that andons us. As when it freezes, it bursts the hardest stones. Do you not perceive that it would be an agent of safety instead of destruction? Yes, captain, perhaps. But whatever resistance to crushing the nautilus possesses, it could not support this terrible pressure and would be flattened like an iron plate. I know it, sir. Therefore we must not reckon on the aid of nature, but on our own exertions. We must stop this solidification. Not only will the side walls be pressed together, but there is not ten feet of water before or behind the non-alice. The congealation gains on all sides. How long will the air in the reservoirs last for us to breathe on board? The captain looked in my face. After tomorrow, they will be empty. A cold sweat came over me. However, ought I to have been astonished at the answer? On March 22, the Nautilus was in the open polar seas. We were at 26 degrees. For five days, we had lived on the reserve on board. And what was left of the air must be kept for the workers. Even now as I write, my recollection is still so vivid that an involuntary terror ceases me, and my lungs seem to be without air. Meanwhile, Captain Nemo reflected silently and evidently an idea had struck him, but he seemed to reject it. At last these words escaped his lips. water. boiling water. Boiling water, I cried. Yes, sir. We are enclosed in a space that is relatively confined. Would not jets of boiling water constantly injected by the pumps raise the temperature in this part? Let us try it. I said resolutely. Let us try it, Professor. The thermometer then stood at seven degrees outside. Captain Nemo took me to the galleys, where the vast machine stood that furnished the drinkable water by evaporation. They filled these with water, and all the electric heat from the piles was thrown through the warm space in the liquid. In a few minutes, this water reached 100 degrees. It was directed towards the pumps, while fresh water replaced it in proportion. The heat developed by the troughs was such that cold water, drawn up from the sea, after only having gone through the machines, came boiling into the body of the pump. The injection was begun, and three hours after the thermometer marked six degrees below zero outside, one degree was gained. Two hours later the thermometer only marked four degrees. We shall succeed, I said to the captain, after having watched the result of the operation. I think, he answered, that we shall not be crushed. During the night, the temperature of the water rose to one degree below zero. The injections could not carry it to a higher point. But as the conjulation of the sea water produces at least two degrees, I was at least reassured against the dangers of solidification. The next day, March 27th, six yards of ice had been cleared. Twelve feet only remaining to be cleared away. There was yet 48 hours work. The air could

not be renewed in the interior of the Nondelis, and this day would make it worse. An intolerable

weight of pressed me. Towards 3 o'clock in the evening, this feeling rose to quite a degree. Yon's dislocated my jaws. My lungs panted as they inhaled this burning fluid, which became rarefied more and more. A moral torpor took hold of me. I was powerless, almost unconscious. My brave con say, exhibiting the same symptoms and suffering in the same manner, never left me. He took my hand and encouraged me, and I heard him murmur, all, if I could only not breathe so as to leave more air for you. Tears came into my eyes on hearing him speak thus. If our situation to all was intolerable in the interior, with what haste and gladness would we put on our quark jackets to work in our turn. Pick axes surrounded on the frozen ice beds, our arms ached, the skin was torn off our hands. But what were these fatigues? What did the wounds matter? Vital air came to the lungs. We breathed. We breathed. All this time, no one prolonged his voluntary task beyond the prescribed time. His task accomplished. Each one handed in turn to his panting companions, the apparatus that supplied him with life. Captain Nemo set the example and submitted first to this severe discipline. When the time came, he gave up his apparatus to another and returned to the air on board. Calm, unflinching, unmermering. On that day, the ordinary work was accomplished with unusual vigor. Only two yards remained to be raised from the surface. Two yards only separated us from the open sea, but the reservoirs were nearly empty to bear. A little that remained ought to be kept for the workers.

Not a particle for the notalless. When I went back on board, I was half suffocated. What a night. I know not how to describe it. The next day, my breathing was oppressed. Dizziness accompanied the pain in my head and made me like a drunken man. My companions showed the same symptoms. Some of the crew had rattling in the throat. that day, the sixth of our imprisonment, Captain Nemo, finding the pickaxes, worked too slowly, resolved to crush the ice bed that still separated us from the liquid sheet. This man's coolness and energy never foresoaked him. He subdued his physical pains by moral force. By his orders, the vessel was lightened, that is to say, raised from the ice bed by a change of specific gravity. When it floated, they towed it so as to bring it above the immense trench made on the level of the waterline. Then filling his reservoirs of water, he descended and shut himself up in the hole. Just then all the crew came on board and the double door of communication was shut. The nautilus then rested on the bed of ice which was not one yard thick and which the sounding leads had beforated in a thousand places. The taps of the reservoirs were then opened, and a hundred cubic yards of water was let in, increasing the weight of the nondless to 1800 tons. We waited. We listened. Forgetting our sufferings in hope. Our safety depended on this last chance. Notwithstanding the buzzing in my head, I soon heard the humming sound under the hull of the Nautilus. The ice cracked with a singular noise, like tearing paper and the Nautilus sank. We are all. Remember at Konsei in my ear. I could not answer him. I seized his hands and pressed it convulsively. All at once carried away by its frightful overcharge. The nautilus sank under the waters. It fell as if it was an vacuum. After some minutes our fall was stopped. Soon the manometer indicated an ascending movement. The screw, going at full speed, made the iron hull tremble to its very bolts and drew us towards the north. But if this floating under the iceberg is still asked another day before we reach the open sea, I may not make it. Half stretched in the library, I felt suffocated. My face was purple. My faculties suspended. I neither saw nor heard. All notion of time had gone from my mind. Were we free of the iceberg?

Some particles of air still remained at the bottom of one apparatus.

My friends had kept it for me,

and they handed it to me.

I wanted to push back the thing,

but they held my hands and for some moments I breathed freely. I looked at the clock, it was 11 in the morning, it ought to be 28th of March. The nautilus went at forty miles an hour tearing through the water. Where was Captain Nemo? At the moment the phenomena indicated that we were not more than twenty feet from the surface. A mere plate of ice separated us from the atmosphere. Could we break it? Perhaps. In any case, the Nautilus was going to attempt it. And broken by backing, and then rushing forward against the field, which gradually gave away, and that last, dashing suddenly against it, shot forwards on the ice field, that crushed beneath its weight. The panel was opened. might say torn, and the pure air came in an abundance to all parts of the Nautilus. Yn yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n y

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