Birkenhead is Mysterious Island. Part Three (final part)
John Lamb
Dear all,
I hope that those of you who read it enjoyed part two.
Here is the last part of my analysis of Mysterious Island and how Jules Verne used Birkenhead and Wirral as a literary template for the novel. In the last part of the novel Nemo constructs a new telegraph wire from the Corall to Dakkar’s Grotto leading the castaways to a sea cave and the fabled submarine Nautilus.
Consider if you will that even for the last part of the novel, I had to find in Birkenhead the following eleven points to get to the end of the novel and keep alive the evidence that Birkenhead and Wirral are the literary template for The Mysterious Island.
I needed to find in Birkenhead and the Wirral Peninsula
1. A tunnel / cave entrance in a granite cliff wall in Birkenhead (ie. Granite House) even though the nearest source of granite is found 100 miles from Birkenhead.
2. The tunnel cave had to be on the east coast (Granite House being on the east coast) a one in eight chance given Verne uses the eight points of the compass in his descriptions.
3. A vertical ladder up to that tunnel / cave (The castaways access ladder to Granite House).
4. A telegraph wire starting from / near the cave (The castaways telegraph wire running from Granite House) and running westwards.
5. The telegraph wire connects to another telegraph station (The wire from Granite House to the Corral)
6. The telegraph wire continues running from that telegraph station to the coast (Nemo's new wire from the Corall to Dakkar's Grotto)
7. The wire must run westwards (as Verne uses eight points of the compass in his descriptions again there is seven in eight chance that the wire will run in the wrong direction.
8. Initially the wire runs across some woods.
9. The wire runs directly to a cave (Dakkar's Grotto)
10. The tide must go down 15 feet in three hours (converts to 30 feet in six hours on a two tide a day cycle) to reveal the cave, even though Verne knew there were no tides in the Pacific where Mysterious Island is set. Probably 1% of the world’s coastline has a tidal range higher than 30 feet and 0.01% (one ten thousandth) of the world’s coastline has a tidal range of exactly thirty feet. Does Birkenhead have this tidal range?
11. In Verne’s words An isolated rock, thirty feet long, fifteen wide, emerging barely ten feet above the water. This will all be that remains of The Mysterious Island after the volcano has exploded and is the last resting place of Captain Nemo.
As you will read in the article, I found all of these and when combined with parts One and two they show beyond doubt that Jules Verne based the Mysterious Island on a comprehensive study of Birkenhead and Wirral, so comprehensive in fact that I have missed many other Birkenhead landmarks out (e.g. Flotsam Point is based on Rock Ferry, Birkenhead home of the American author Nathanial Hawthorne).
Similarities beyond coincidence and as I have said, the Nautilus (because of the links with the CSS Alabama) was born in Birkenhead and it is in Birkenhead where it will meet its end.
As always, comments greatly appreciated and please grill me on any part of this.
If you would like to contact me in confidence about my findings, then here is my email address.
Best wishes John Lamb