A message from Kenneth Lamb re this Forum
John Lamb
“Doubt is an uncomfortable condition, but certainty is a ridiculous one.” Voltaire
Dear forum members,
I have watched my brother John present to you a number of essays on the marvelous
influence our hometown of Birkenhead has had on the writings of Jules Verne. We are
aware some ideas will seem far-fetched and not at all convincing to someone not
familiar with the town and a healthy scepticism is to be expected. An example of this
can be shown with the 1895 novel Propeller Island. To most this is an entertaining story
about the super-rich but to someone born in Birkenhead Verne’s description of the island
includes so many features unique to the town it reads like a comprehensive tourist
information guide. Undoubtedly some of my brother’s findings will fall short but there
comes a point where the sheer number of “coincidences” become too great to ignore.
With this in mind, I was still shocked at the dismissive and childish reception he received
after posting an article on some hidden codes we had found. To have a number of your
forum call these mere anagrams reveals a lot about the calibre of some of your
members. I present our discovery of the code within the name Arne Saknussemm again
and would welcome your reply to a few questions.
ARNE SAKNUSSEMM
Place the first ES to the end to make SEMMES
ARNA KNUS SEMMES
Read the last two words backwards
SEMMES SUNK ARNA
Arna is Nordic for “The Powerful Eagle”
SEMMES SUNK THE POWERFUL EAGLE
The powerful eagle being the United States of America
Raphael Semmes was the captain of the CSS Alabama, the most successful Confederate
Raider of the American Civil War.
Launched in July 1862 from Birkenhead, she destroyed or captured 65 Union ships
without civilian loss and made headlines around the world. She was eventually sunk by
the USS Kearsarge off the French port of Cherbourg in June 1864 and such was the
Alabama’s fame a crowd of over fifteen thousand came to witness the prearranged
battle, many coming from Paris by train. Verne would later have Nemo sink the last ship
in his revenge against the colonial British near this site and then retreat to his cabin
distraught, a clear reference on the effect the loss of the Alabama had on the author.
How on earth is the code hidden in the name of Arne Saknussemm regarded as a mere
anagram and not one of the most important findings in the world of Jules Verne this
century? John and I should be paraded on shoulders through the streets of Paris! This
code leads us to realise why Verne had the directions to the centre of the Earth finally
solved by reading them backwards. It was a legacy of the palindrome surname
SEMMES. It is also proof of how early Raphael Semmes was on the creative radar of an
author given the daunting task of a new contract asking for three novels each year. What
a fantastic revelation this is yet your forum is too stubborn or too embarrassed at not
finding it themselves to accept it! This homage to Semmes in Verne’s 1864 novel in the
form of a secret code is confirmation and gratitude for his inspiration, an
inspiration that would lead to Captain Nemo and the Nautilus. I repeat again some facts
your forum should ponder.
The motto of the Nautilus 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 so giving Verne the title to his most famous novel.
Semmes is first mentioned indirectly in Verne’s 1864 publication The Adventures of
Captain Hatteras. This concerns a Birkenhead built ship constructed in a similar manner
to the Alabama and whose absent captain is named after the first military vessel
Semmes and the Alabama sank. This was the USS Hatteras in January 1863. The
Birkenhead ship is called the Forward and Verne has it berthed in Liverpool’s Prince’s
dock close to another vessel. This other vessel is the Nautilus!
Both of these craft were inspired by the CSS Alabama and Verne has amused himself by
placing them within sight of each other and intriguingly, within sight of the very dock
from which the Alabama was built.
The Alabama and the hull of the Nautilus were both constructed in secret by Laird’s of
Birkenhead and completed on an island.
How many clues does Verne have to leave?
These are facts and not conjecture. I thought new findings on Jules Verne and the
discovery of codes hidden for over 150 years would have left forum members ecstatic.
How wrong could I be? My brother’s work has been confronted with an impenetrable
brick wall. Literary jealousy? I hope the forum is better than that.
I would like to ask the forum a few questions.
(i) Is the code within the name Arne Saknussemm a mere anagram, a haphazard jumble
of letters that could be made to say anything and a figment of my imagination or is it a
simple but genius transposition cipher paying homage to Raphael Semmes whereby just
two letters are moved to the end and, prompted by his palindrome surname, revealed by
reading it backwards?
(ii) With hardly any verification to back it up and with the overwhelming evidence pointing
to Raphael Semmes from my brother’s research, can we now stop the nonsense that
considers Gustave Flourens to be the inspiration behind Captain Nemo? Unlike Semmes,
he has not been honoured with a secret code and the timing of the scant influence
Flourens may have provided does not align perfectly with Verne’s work.
Most importantly, where is his Nautilus ?
Thank you for your time.
Kenneth Lamb
Don Sample
On Oct 22, 2025, at 12:20 AM, John Lamb <cads...@gmail.com> wrote:
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Jules Verne Forum" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to jules-verne-fo...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/jules-verne-forum/d543525d-413c-436d-82ed-0b41008258ebn%40googlegroups.com.
Jean-Louis Trudel
First, let me state that, pending a personal investigation, I do think
Semmes has to be considered as a possible strong influence on the
creation of Nemo. So far, so good, I'm happy to be pointed in that
direction. And I'm willing to grant that he might well have been
fascinated by Birkenhead to the point of remembering some of its
features in later writings.
Second, as a writer, I think it's easy to confuse influence and
replication. Verne was addicted to research and would not hesitate to
reuse incidents from real life, sometimes even footnoting his sources.
The pattern is such that cases where Verne might obscure his sources
almost require confirmation. Coincidence might just be coincidence.
Third, playing with words, anagrams, and homophony makes for weak
arguments. Consider that, in Icelandic, if we can trust Google
Translate, Arne Saknussemm can be interpreted to mean "Arne misses
you" or possibly "Arne Missed you", and that "Saknussemm" is the
Icelandic word for guilt, without shifting any letters. (Appearing at
the bottom of the initial note about voyaging underground, the
signature "Arne Misses you" makes it even more of an invitation to
follow him. Though ARNE in Icelandic apparently mens "fireplace", not
"eagle" or "powerful eagle", which could also work as a metaphor for
an extinct volcano: thus, the note's signature would be saying in
bastardized Icelandic "The fireplace misses you", i.e. "The volcano
misses you", i.e. "Come to the volcano"... How's that for wordplay?)
At that point, the character's name would have two layers of hidden
meanings, but one has to wonder why Verne would have gone to the
trouble of finding a speaker of Icelandic who would have provided an
Icelandic phrase allowing him to insert a phrase in English, which
Verne did not speak. This was for one of Verne's earliest novels:
his first novel translation in English, for "Cinq Semaines en ballon",
had just appeared in 1863, only months before he started writing
"Voyage au centre de la Terre". Why would he have catered to a still
unknown English-speaking readership with a hidden code using English
and Old Norse?
Jean-Louis Trudel
Darek Powell
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/jules-verne-forum/CAMD0ZMYVxbjR0qSQcy9Cx2bdd-GaGw%3DBb4COWQkbVwPdA7zKrA%40mail.gmail.com.
William Butcher
Sent: Thursday, October 23, 2025 3:57 AM
To: jules-ve...@googlegroups.com <jules-ve...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [JVF] A message from Kenneth Lamb re this Forum
John Lamb
Dear Don,
Thank you for your question. My brother deciphered Arne Saknussemm and so I will give my own slant in answering your question.
Frankly Arne Saknussemm shouted out at me because of what I already knew of Semmes being the inspiration for the Confederate half of Captain Nemo and the CSS Alabama as being the inspiration for the Nautilus. I suspected it was a second cipher within a cipher, so gave it to my brother to solve.
As in every question I am ever asked on this forum I will answer it by referring to the Verne / Birkenhead / American Civil War / CSS Alabama / Captain Raphael Semmes link. This of course should massively limit the quality of my answer, and I hope you agree that it does not. Particularly in the wider context that I will refer you to at the end of this reply.
So let me now dissect your question.
Why on earth would a French author embed a coded English/Nordic message in one of his books especially considering he doesn’t speak either of those languages well?
I think it would help answer your question if you had reworded it to…
Why on earth would Jules Verne embed a coded English/Nordic message in one of his books especially considering he doesn’t speak either of those languages well?
Well of course he already has embedded a coded English/Nordic message in one of his books – Journey to the Centre of the Earth – so Verne not me is answering the question and as I have said before people who doubt the inspiration of Birkenhead to Verne will end up having a conversation with the great man himself.
The code of Arne Saknussemm in Journey to the Centre of the Earth is written in runic
Icelandic script (Nordic) translated to Latin, read backwards and then translated to English
Characters (not German) the fact that Verne hides a second cipher cryptogram inside the first
(the name Arne Saknussemm) where he uses Nordic and English and reads it backwards as
he does in the book is pure genius and worthy of the great Jules Verne and certainly not John and Kenneth Lamb, two blokes from Birkenhead. So, this alone should answer your question. You have two Nordic / English ciphers for one! Bravo Verne!
Re the second part of your question
As to the Nautilus being built in Birkenhead:
The hull of a submarine is not a ‘component’ it is basically the whole thing.
Jules Verne gives the weight of the first outer hull as 394.6 tons (about 30% of the total weight) but he does not give the weight of ‘the second envelope’ - the second inner hull. On a double hulled submarine, the second envelope is the one that resists water pressure and so is thicker and heavier than the outer hull. In a submarine that in fiction at least, dives to the very deepest part of the ocean, the inner Lairds built hull, despite having a smaller cross section, would weigh about 600 tons, this pushes Laird’s contribution to Captain Nemo’s Nautilus to about 1,000 tons or about 80% of the total weight of the Nautilus of 1,356.48 tons.
The CSS Alabama was commissioned at Nautilus House Liverpool for the Confederacy…we now come to the point where it is all about context and I ask you to read below as such. Firstly, please look at my table (in English and French) on the other thread which gives 100 direct links between Semmes and Nemo…such a number is beyond coincidence, and this is also why Arne Saknussemm shouted out at me. Besides Verne’s cipher (with respect) is far more entertaining than the alternatives offered on this forum.
I thought 100 links re Semmes and Nemo would be a nice round number. Now an auditor would choose a selection of say ten random numbers (e.g. links 16, 35, 46 etc) and grill me on each one…and I am happy to do this to the utmost degree with any forum member re Semmes being the inspiration for the Confederate half of Nemo and the portraits in his cabin being the inspiration for the Unionist half.
Please remember I am a geography teacher from Birkenhead who has only ever read one novel voluntarily (Dr Dolittle) and I should not be offering myself to ‘slug it out’ with Professors and Doctors of Literature and so on who have studied Verne for years.
Lastly – a story. I knew that Verne modelled Mysterious Island and The Propellor Island on Birkenhead (see previous posts) but in no way did I ever think he might have modelled Snaefells in Iceland on Bidston Observatory, Birkenhead (which I knew he had used in both Mysterious Island and Propellor Island). It was only when I went on the roof of the observatory last year and found three chimneys, the gnomen of a giant sundial and a ladder appearing from nowhere that I realized that Verne had also used it for his inspiration for the Snaefells scene in Journey to the Centre of the Earth….and it was the Arne Saknussemm cipher (Semmes sunk arna) that gave me the confidence to look. This was written up in my article in the International Review of Science Fiction (see attached).
Anyway, I hope this answers your question and gives my viewpoint.
One last point I could have said I will answer your question in the context of Verne’s link with Portsmouth, the Crimean War, the SS Great Britain and Captain John Gray (captain of the aforementioned ship)… but I will have got nowhere…because there is no link.
There is however a documented link between Verne and Birkenhead (Laird’s Semmes Birkenhead Alabama are mentioned in eight Verne novels). It is the strength of that link that is up for debate and that is why I think there are very exciting things ahead for this forum and the study of Jules Verne in the run up to 2028. This includes what I believe is Verne’s hidden relationship with one real Francophile British author who I have added on to the end of the article.
Best John
comperedaniel
William Butcher
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/jules-verne-forum/01DE12F1-E8C5-4D7A-84D9-B9CF1A22EAA9%40orange.fr.
John Lamb
Dear Jean-Louis,
Once again thankyou for your reply and your comment that
‘pending a personal investigation, I do think Semmes has to be considered as a possible strong influence on the creation of Nemo’ and ‘I'm happy to be pointed in that direction’
as well as stating that
‘he might well have been fascinated by Birkenhead to the point of remembering some of its features in later writings’.
As you suggest these are different strands to my research and I fully understand how members of the forum, like yourself may be willing to be ‘led in the direction of Semmes / Nemo’ while cautious regarding Birkenhead (Darek has posted similar and I shall reply to him separately) and relatively dismissive regarding Arne Saknussemm as ‘Semmes sunk Arna’ as it is relatively ‘standalone’.
What really backs up Arne Saknussemm as ‘Semmes sunk Arna’ is the 100 Nemo / Semmes links (see the table in the other thread) and the skill the cipher is put together reflecting as it does the cipher of Arne Saknussemm in the novel in being read backwards.
The runic cipher of Arne Saknussemm is probably the most famous cipher in world literature and many articles have been written praising Jules Verne’s skill in putting it together as a ‘route transposition cipher’.
When we look at into the types of cryptograms other writers of romantic tales and detective stories have employed, we must recognise that he stands head and shoulders above them all, not excluding even Poe… …Verne’s genius calls for admiration and respect – even on the part of professional cryptographers…
Jules Verne as Cryptographer Lt Colonel William. F Friedman. The Signal Corps Bulletin (1940)
You state that ‘ARNE in Icelandic apparently means "fireplace", not "eagle" or"powerful eagle"’
I am afraid you miss the point here completely and you are translating ARNE and not ARNA...
...which is akin to translating TUNE instead of TUNA if you get my point
– hence you end up in a fireplace rather than the great eagle being the symbol of the United States Navy.
I give you the link here.
Arna - Girl Name Meaning and Pronunciation
The Arne Saknussemm cipher is only partially read backwards, something we have also seen in terms of syllables with Ardan (From the Earth to the Moon) and Nadar and I would contest with Munbar (Propellor Island) and P.T. Barnum (who makes a guest appearance towards the end of Journey to the Centre of the Earth). Members of the forum may be able to give other examples of Verne making up names from syllables, one of which is in the correct order and one of which is reversed... so being consistent in being highly selective in what is read backwards and what isn't and therefore supporting how Verne worked consistently in 'Semmes sunk Arna'.
You also state
‘Why would he have catered to a still unknown English-speaking readership with a hidden code using English and Old Norse?’ well as stated he does use a hidden code using English and Old Norse within the novel, so Verne himself gives you the answer. .
I can only think of one other answer ….future planning.
Arne Saknussemm is perhaps my number 101 link with Semmes supported by links 1-100.
Best John
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/jules-verne-forum/CAB6%2B_60sCXC0Q6TDoD6fRVVpGVnZDutDDpBrDS0x%2BxJ2tiKhyQ%40mail.gmail.com.
John Lamb
Dear Darek,
Thank you for your kind comments re the Semmes connection with Captain Nemo
Given your research, I think you make very strong points on the Semmes inspiration on the character of Nemo…
and
Your table lays out your point very succinctly and persuasively.
I have been working on an article for Verniana and the table was a natural
progression from that. I hope to submit the paper in about a month and will draw on
the layout of previous articles.
I know I may appear stubborn, but I have to defend each one of the 100 links
regarding Semmes and Nemo in 20,0000 Leagues Under the Seas because
essentially, they represent 100 pieces of paper that Verne must have scribbled a note
on about Semmes / CSS Alabama and then rearranged on the living room floor to
formulate his plotline for the novel and create the ‘False Alabama’ that he mentions
to Hetzel. He does much the same with Wirral places and landmarks for The
Mysterious Island.
And here is the brilliant paradox of Verne, if the idea of a ‘false Alabama’ was so
‘unacceptable’ in his letter to Hetzel, why did he build the vast majority of the
Nautilus, like the CSS Alabama at Lairds shipyard in Birkenhead? and like the CSS
Alabama, finally complete the Nautilus on a desert island?
Verne could easily have disguised some of the links (eg both Farrugut and Abraham
Lincoln chasing both Semmes and Nemo around the oceans in reality and fiction)
but he doesn’t… he Gives Clues. He is also a master of deception at the same
time…who would have thought a futuristic electric submarine would be inspired by a
wooden sailing ship.
Imagine if the Nautilus had been a plain old wooden sailing ship built in ‘Laird’s of
Birkenhead’, given the plot line, I think Verne would have been rumbled straight away re the
Alabama.
Once I found the Nemo / Confederate Semmes link, I knew there had to be ‘balance’
and I finally found it, as you say in the portraits in Nemo’s cabin.
Regarding Mysterious Island thank you for saying you make good connections that
show definite points where Lincoln Island matches with Birkenhead. My favourite is
what I call ‘bar code’ clues are the construction of Creek Glycerine (Dock Branch
Railway Cutting) and its three-dimensional juxtaposition with The Mercy River
(Tranmere Brook) described spot on by Verne using distances, compass directions
and heights. Verne’s use of the patent for Prices Patent (Birkenhead) candles is also
a masterstroke as you can’t argue with the ten key words of a patent. Prices were
major abolitionists visited by the novelists Elizabeth Gaskell and Harriet Beecher
Stowe. It is Harriet Beecher Stowe whose abolitionist writings inspire Verne to call
the Tranmere Brook ‘The Mercy’ as a play on Mersey (so creating a logistical
interpretive nightmare for me).
In 1853 Stowe was staying across the River in south Liverpool.
She writes this in tribute to her hosts the Cropper Family whose home she
called ‘sacred ground’ as they were ‘the first to the abolitionist cause’.
……This Mersey River would be a very beautiful one, if it were not so dingy and muddy. As we are sailing up in the tender towards Liverpool, I deplore the circumstance feelingly. "What does make this river so muddy?"
"O," says a bystander, "don't you know that
'The quality of mercy is not strained'?"
Harriet Beecher Stowe Sunny Memories of Foreign Lands (1854).
Re Liverpool and Verne saying
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.
Forum members may know whether this is unique for Verne to admit ‘studying’ an
area, if his research is so brilliant for areas he did not admit studying, then what was
it like for areas he did admit studying?
The Hilbre Islands, the seal hunt, 30 feet tidal range and Ferat’s sketches were a
giveaway.
Re Ferat’s illustrations, I looked at about 4,000 illustrations with a necessarily
‘biased’ eye and could find only two novels with linked Birkenhead illustrations –
Mysterious Island and Propellor island and in the other odd fifty novels…nothing
…so they are to me the ‘control’ novels which mean Mysterious island
and Propellor Island stand out even more.
Regarding the (Bidston) lighthouse I can only refer you to its use across three novels
(four in total) in my article in the International Journal of Science Fiction. It does, in
my opinion, fit perfectly (it shouldn’t fit at all) especially Journey to the Centre of the
Earth.
I include this as an attachment to read at your leisure.
Personally, I am probably best putting Birkenhead into hibernation at the moment
and concentrating on Semmes / Nemo …one step at a timeas both yourself and Jean Louis have identified different levels of credibility and this is appreciated.
Re Arne Saknussemm, I agree with your points, I think the overcomplication may come from linking it to the similar sounding Arni Magnusson, the Semmes pallindrome and reading backwards (partly) to match the solving of Saknussemm's cryptogram in the novel. Please also refer to my reply to Jean Louis.
Any advice on submitting an article to Verniana would be greatly appreciated.
Best John