Raphael Semmes and the Derivation of Arne Saknussemm by Ken Lamb
John Lamb
Did an unusual surname create one of the greatest works in science fiction?
A possible insight on the working process of French author Jules Verne.
By Kenneth Lamb
In 1861, Europe took a keen interest in the progress of the American Civil War. Most countries maintained a neutral position, but Britain's neutrality was complicated by the strong commercial ties it held with the slave reliant South. The Union North knew this and warned Britain that if it was to supply anything that could aid the newly formed Confederate States ability to wage war, diplomatic relations would be at risk. In July 1862, a little over a year into the conflict, a ship was launched in England that would test these relations to breaking point. Built by Laird’s of Birkenhead and given the deceptive name of Enrica, this robust sail and steam powered craft slipped out of the River Mersey and made its way for Terceira Island in the Azores. Arriving without armaments to satisfy Britain’s superficial neutrality she was swiftly fitted with the most advanced guns and delivered to the Confederate Navy. Now called the CSS Alabama, she would become the South's most successful commerce raider and make headlines around the world.
It is on the island the crew would be introduced to their absent captain. A veteran commander in the U.S. Navy and a gifted writer, his book, Service Afloat and ashore During the Mexican War, had become a best seller. The devotion he had shown towards the United States in his memoirs was now at odds with the fierce loyalty he displayed towards the Confederate South. He was an intelligent and conscientious man with a great interest in the natural world, fluent in French and Spanish and a qualified lawyer, having been admitted to the bar in 1834. Over the next two years this 53-year-old refined Southern Gentleman would sink or capture 65 ships without civilian loss and seriously damage the viability of Union commerce at sea. American President Abraham Lincoln would place a $250,000 bounty on the ship and it was a cause of great celebration when the Alabama was eventually sunk in battle off the French port of Cherbourg in June 1864. The name of the captain, rescued from the sea, was Raphael Semmes.
Over the last few years my brother John has been looking into the influence our hometown of Birkenhead has had on the writing of Jules Verne. With an insatiable interest in all things scientific, Verne must have been very impressed with this rapidly developing town opposite the great city of Liverpool. Verne visited Birkenhead in 1859 and 1867, a period when it was experiencing a great social, industrial and technological transformation. The town had recently undergone a large-scale programme of urban development with the adoption of an ambitious gridiron street layout and the construction of a large municipal park. The park was the world’s first to be publicly funded and its naturally landscaped contours, a revelation at the time, would go on to inspire the design of New York’s Central Park. Birkenhead was one of the first to construct iron hulled ships capable of crossing an ocean and had built what is recognised as the world’s first steel ship, David Livingstone’s Ma Robert in 1858. It had a thriving locomotive industry and was involved in the building of three quarters of France’s railways and one third of the railways in Britain. It was a leader in international bridge construction, built Europe’s first tram system and had just opened the 110-acre inland dock called the Great Float, at the time the largest enclosed dock in the world. Birkenhead’s manufacture and help in the laying of the Transatlantic Telegraph Cable would have been yet another major achievement to fascinate the inquisitive French author.
There are many instances my brother can point to where the town of Birkenhead has influenced the writings of Jules Verne. Here is one that plays a part in this story.
The CSS Alabama was manufactured by Laird’s of Birkenhead and completed on an island. The hull of the Nautilus submarine was also manufactured by Laird’s of Birkenhead and completed on an island.
The motto of the Nautilus submarine is “Mobilis in Mobile”.
Raphael Semmes was from Mobile in Alabama.
In its two years at sea the CSS Alabama travelled just over 70,000 miles which converts to 20,000 leagues.
It would appear from my brother’s findings that the CSS Alabama and Raphael Semmes were Verne’s inspiration for two of his most famous creations, the incredible Nautilus submarine and the mysterious anti-hero, Captain Nemo. The conversion of miles to leagues would give Verne the title to his 1869 novel, 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas, yet this is not the novel in our story.
We now go to the Christmas of 2018. John would often tell me his latest findings when we met in Liverpool for a catch up over a few beers. On this occasion he mentioned a character we were both familiar with from the film and cartoon series we watched as children, Journey to the Centre of the Earth. The cartoon would start with the carved initials “AS”. This stood for Arne Saknussemm, a 17th century Icelandic scholar who left a secret code giving directions to reach the Earth’s core. John pointed out that no Icelandic name ever ended in semm and this could possibly be a hidden cipher relating to Raphael Semmes. If this was found to be the case it would surely confirm his belief that Semmes was Verne’s inspiration behind the creation of Captain Nemo. A few weeks later I sat down with a pencil and paper to try and find if there was a hidden code within the name Arne Saknussemm. With the help of the internet, I uncovered it in less than ten minutes.
I wrote the name out in capitals.
ARNE SAKNUSSEMM
I put the first ES on the end to make SEMMES and this gave . . .
ARNA KNUS SEMMES
I knew Saknussemm’s code in the novel had been solved by reading it backwards, so I tried that.
SEMMES SUNK ANRA
Finding the word SUNK was exciting but ANRA made no sense.
I then tried just reading the last two words backwards and this gave . . .
SEMMES SUNK ARNA
I looked up the meaning of ARNA and was delighted to find it is Nordic for
“The powerful eagle”.
SEMMES SUNK THE POWERFUL EAGLE
The powerful eagle being the United States of America.
I had solved a code hidden for over 150 years and wondered if Jules Verne expected it to take that long. The discovery of this clever cipher also opened up an intriguing thought, could the unusual surname Semmes be the driving force behind the writing of one of the most famous adventures of all time?
In 1863, Verne’s story about three Englishmen exploring Africa, Five Weeks in a Balloon, had been a great success, and this led to his publisher, Pierre-Jules Hetzel, offering him a contract for three novels a year that would be serialised in his new fortnightly magazine. These fact filled and educational stories would go under the title of the Voyages Extraordinaires and be published in book form shortly after. This demanding contract presented Verne with a daunting task, but he only had to look at the adventures of Captain Raphael Semmes for inspiration. To Verne, Semmes was the goose that laid the golden egg.
Just before the 1864 release of A Journey to the Centre of the Earth, Hetzel published Verne’s The Adventures of Captain Hatteras in his magazine. This began with a Birkenhead built ship called the Forward. With an absent captain and constructed in secret to a sturdy, over engineered design, the ship closely mirrored the launch of the CSS Alabama and even the name of the missing captain was taken from the only military vessel the Alabama sank. This was the USS Hatteras in January 1863. As the Forward lay at anchor, prior to sailing from Liverpool’s Prince’s Dock, we are told that inquisitive and admiring comments were directed towards the ship from sailors on a vessel berthed nearby. Verne did not describe what type of vessel this was, but he did give her name. She was called the Nautilus. Liverpool can boast that the world’s first introduction to this famous machine took place in her docks, and we can now see how Verne amused himself by having the Forward and the Nautilus within sight of each other, two craft, both inspired by the Alabama.
I now present my thoughts on the way the surname Semmes may have been responsible for the creation of the 1864 novel A Journey to the Centre of the Earth.
Jules Verne had a near obsession with codes, and he must have been quite taken that the name Semmes is a palindrome, a word that is the same when written backwards. Prompted by this word reversal, we can imagine Verne toying with this name and wanting to secretly incorporate it into a story as confirmation and gratitude for his inspiration. Semmes’ notoriety was earned through his remarkable proficiency at sinking ships, and this would be the theme of Verne’s cipher. It was also well known he could hardly speak a word of English so using some here would be another trick to disguise his code. SEMMES SUNK SHIPS becomes SPIHS KNUS SEMMES. He may have then tried the symbol of America, the eagle. SEMMES SUNK THE EAGLE becomes ELGAE EHT KNUS SEMMES, but this was just too complicated to be of any use. Then by luck or inspiration Verne used the Nordic name for eagle, Arna. This word was a perfect choice as it was suitably short and did not just mean “Eagle” but “The powerful eagle”.
SEMMES SUNK ARNA . . . reverse read it but keep ARNA
ARNA KNUS SEMMES
Take the ES from the end and place it after ARN
ARNE SAKNUSSEMM
However he did it, Verne came up with the name Arne Saknussemm and he realised how near this sounded to a real-life person from Icelandic history called Arni Magnusson (1663-1730). Magnusson was a collector of ancient Nordic manuscripts and a professor of history at the University of Copenhagen.
Here I show how the surname Semmes may be responsible for the creation of this famous novel.
Playing around with the surname Semmes, Verne creates the secret coded name of Arne Saknussemm.
Verne bases a character, Arne Saknussemm, on Arni Magnusson. He is a 17th century scholar who collects ancient Nordic manuscripts and has a rudimentary knowledge of Latin.
Arni Magnusson was born in Iceland and worked in the Danish capital of Copenhagen. This would provide two settings to the novel.
Saknussemm placed his cipher giving directions to the centre of the Earth in a book of ancient manuscripts just like those collected by Arni Magnusson.
His code was initially written in runic symbols and then translated into Latin characters as the first step to a solution.
SAKNUSSEMM’S CODE IS FINALLY SOLVED BY READING IT BACKWARDS, A LEGACY OF THE PALINDROME SURNAME SEMMES.
There can be an argument that says A Journey to the Centre of the Earth was first written with Arni Magnusson as the Icelandic character and Verne simply changed the name to Arne Saknussemm after the novel’s completion. This would mean the name Semmes could not claim to have instigated the writing of this famous adventure but this idea does have its problems. The name Arni Magnusson would not have motivated Verne to produce a code solved by reading it backwards. Furthermore, to come up with a code that not only relates to Raphael Semmes but also sounds very similar to the name Arni Magnusson after writing the novel would seem to defy all the laws of probability. It is far more credible that the name Semmes provided the cipher Arne Saknussemm well before Verne’s 1864 classic adventure was conceived. This simple, unusual surname may stand alone as the word that led to the creation of one of the greatest works in science fiction.
Thank you for your time,
neK
William Butcher
Sent: Tuesday, July 15, 2025 6:50 AM
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Subject: [JVF] Raphael Semmes and the Derivation of Arne Saknussemm by Ken Lamb
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