My final post before I withdraw from this forum.
John Lamb
Dear Bill, Alex, Volker, Bernhard, Garmt
Thankyou, for the recent posts and the time taken writing them.
Anyone who would like to contact me on a one-to-one basis is very welcome in future
My email address is cads.2la ….(at logo) gmail.com
And my home address is 29 Primrose Road Allerton. Liverpool , England L182HE
Alex,
I appreciate the time taken in writing back and your comments about what the forum is for and what it is not for. I did find your comparisons and ‘anagrams’ hurtful in their insinuations, and your 100 points about me childish, but I will let it rest there. As a final reply to your question.
You state…
If I'm understanding the Birkenhead theory correctly, it requires that Verne made extremely detailed secret geographical notes about various places in Birkenhead, had a clandestine meeting with Raphael Semmes in 1864, received a pre-publication French translation of Semmes's memoirs, and drafted multiple novels to fit those secret materials. Which, if true, would be wildly exciting and interesting - only, why isn't any of that in the paper trail?
Yes, that is my assertion. It is the only way to explain the astonishing 'coincidences' in...
Journey to the Centre of the Earth (1864) and Birkenhead, particularly Scartaris but also The Hansbach, mushroom forest, Liedenbrock (Liverpool) Sea and the giant wielding a bough. (I attach my full review of Journey to The Centre of the Earth as a parting gift.
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under Sea (1869) and Semmes and the Alabama
Mysterious Island (1873) (the whole novel modelled on Birkenhead and Wirral) the forum already has this in three parts
The Floating Island (1895) the novel modelled on Birkenhead and Wallasey.
My purpose in joining this forum was to provide real evidence by simply matching Verne texts with one real place to show how Verne used literary templates based on Birkenhead and Wirral for his novels. I believe I have done that.
The Scartaris posting re A Journey to the Centre of the Earth being the latest case in point with 12 points in Verne’s script matching Bidston Observatory.
Now I am not being facetious here but I would challenge any one of you to find these 12 matching points from Verne on any building, hill or place in the world which contains in Verne’s words.
1. the gnomon of a vast sun dial
2. In the midst of the vast surface of snow presented by the hollow between
the two peaks,
3. …a kind of staircase appeared unexpectedly
4. …two peaks one north one south
5. … one south…Scataris
6. One north…an inverted cone…Snaefell
7. At the bottom of the crater there were three chimneys.
8. On the 29th June
9. Scartaris laid down his sharp pointed angular shadow
10. At noon, being at its least extent, it came and fell softly on the edge of the
middle chimney.
11. I approached the Middle Chimney…each of us could then descend …we are
there…at the bottom of the perpendicular chimney…let us have supper and
go to sleep...
12. …"Did you ever spend a quieter night in our little house at Königsberg? No noise of cartwheels, no cries of basket women, no boatmen shouting!"
I attach the document again below and its context within the whole novel as a parting gift.
Garmt, this is not by chance. You just state coincidence and nothing meaningful for 100 links Semmes / Nemo and ignore the brilliance of Verne (again) by not even entering in to the discussion on the 12 points re Scartaris above but dismissing it as 'aleatory' and invoke Rennes le Chateau.
How can you equate 100 links between Nemo and Semmes, the world's most infamous sea captain of the 1860's (just five years before 20,000 Leagues) and the idea that Verne is inspired by a building for his description of Scartaris in the same vein as Rennes Le Chateau?
I am visiting Bidston Observatory next week, and even if I found the letters A S on the ‘middle chimney’ as Verne stated in the novel (at least a one in 676 chance, even if there are any letters carved in the middle chimney) I do not think you would be convinced…it would still be dismissed as ‘coincidence’ because it is not in any of Verne’s notes….so what’s the point of continuing on this forum? That is why I am leaving. We do not leave a paper trail of every aspect of our lives and Jules Verne was no different. Look at his gravestone ….he still has more to say.
Dear Volker,
Thankyou for your response, you say
I never located the name of Semmes in these notes nor in other documents.
Raphael Semmes is mentioned in two Verne novels
The novels are…
North Against South, Verne writes
The naval events, which caused so much stir, were the appearance of the Sumter and her famous Captain Semmes
And A Floating City
Captain Semmes, Minister of War has made the south compensate for its ravages in Alabama.
This does show that Semmes was somewhat on Verne’s radar and Semmes was most definitely in his notes.
Verne also stated in the Strand Magazine (1895)
‘The town which I know best in England is Liverpool, and as I stayed there for some time with friends, I had a good opportunity of studying it, especially the docks and the Mersey’.
I believe ‘Some time’ does not equate with the two short visits Verne is documented as having made to Liverpool/ Birkenhead in 1859 and 1867 …and he was supposed to be with just one other person on each visit so who were his ‘friends’. … there is a lot we don’t know.
Verne’s notes from 1859 quote New Brighton (Birkenhead) Fort and lighthouse and ‘New Ferry’ Birkenhead and I do not think this represents a ‘study’ I think, indeed, I know he did more because I am from Birkenhead and can see it represented in four novels.
Verne does mention of course Birkenhead, its Lairds shipyard, the CSS Alabama, Semmes the Alabama Claims in ten of his novels.
Backwards to Britain (1859) Birkenhead
The Adventures of Captain Hatteras (1864) Birkenhead
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1869) Lairds
Une Ville Flotant (1870. (Semmes) Birkenhead
The Adventures of Three Englishmen and Three Russians in South Africa. (1872) Lairds
Around the World in Eighty Days (1873) (Alabama Claims Mentioned twice)
Survivors of the Chancellor (1874) Laird
North and South (1887) Semmes
An Antarctic Mystery (1897) Birkenhead
Traveling Scholarships (1903) Birkenhead
I wanted to 'test the water' re how an academic submission would be received in Vernian circles because this would not be a 'normal' academic submission. I have my answer.
I do appreciate the time taken by you to respond. I will not be making demands on your time again
Good bye
John Lamb
quentin skrabec
John
Don’t go! But please never give up! As the only member with a PhD minor in statistical analysis and research, I might add that most great advances in science come not from studying the inside of the six sigma (99.97%) but from studying the outlier. Unfortunately, most researchers spend their lives studying within the normal distribution- it's the safe career path. Outliers naturally turn upside down the “norm,” which can be a very uncomfortable place for most.
An outlier can be an error, and in numerical data, it often is. But if an outlier is a collection of coincidences, it can be an oil well waiting to come in.
I’ve noted this before: coincidences are where research begins. Like outliers, coincidences all have a reason. It can be an error, but mining coincidences with persistence is where you often strike the reward of new knowledge.
Studying coincidences has led to numerous discoveries, including scientific breakthroughs like penicillin and the microwave oven, new materials such as Teflon and vulcanized rubber, and important scientific theories like the Big Bang and relativity, to name a few. Great archeological findings often come from coincidences.
Quent