Chapter 19
VanikoroTHIS DREADFUL SIGHT was the first of a whole series of maritime
catastrophes that the Nautilus would encounter on its run. When it
plied more heavily traveled seas, we often saw wrecked hulls
rotting in midwater, and farther down, cannons, shells, anchors,
chains, and a thousand other iron objects rusting away.
Meanwhile, continuously swept along by the Nautilus, where we
lived in near isolation, we raised the Tuamotu Islands on December
11, that old "dangerous group" associated with the French global
navigator Commander Bougainville; it stretches from Ducie Island to
Lazareff Island over an area of 500 leagues from the east–southeast
to the west–northwest, between latitude 13° 30' and 23° 50' south,
and between longitude 125° 30' and 151° 30' west. This isla
