Mysterious Island

The plot

The book tells the adventures of marooned Americans on an uncharted island in the South Pacific. The story begins in the American Civil War, during the siege of Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the Confederate States of America. As famine and death ravage the city, five prisoners - Cyrus Smith{{ref|smith-name}}, Gideon Spilett, Nebuchadnezzar (Neb), Pencroft, and Herbert Brown{{ref|orig-names}} - decide to escape from the city in a rather unusual way - by hijacking a balloon.

Related Topics:
American Civil War - Richmond, Virginia - Confederate States of America

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After flying in stormy weather for several days, the group crash-lands on a cliff-like, volcanic, unknown (and fictitious) island, which they decide to name Lincoln Island, in honour of President Abraham Lincoln. With the help of the brilliant engineer Smith, the five are able to sustain themselves on the island, producing anything from fire, pottery, bricks, nitroglycerine, iron and simple electric telegraph, and even attempt to build a sea-worthy ship. They also manage to find their geographical location.

Related Topics:
Abraham Lincoln - Fire - Pottery - Brick - Nitroglycerine - Iron - Telegraph

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Throughout their stay on the island, the group has to overcome bad weather, and eventually adopts and domesticates an orangutan, Jupiter, abbreviated to Jupe.

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The mystery of the island seems to come from periodic inexplicable deus ex machinas: the unexplanable survival of Smith from his fall from the balloon, the mysterious rescue of his dog Top from a sea beast, a box full of equipment (guns and ammunition, tools, &ct...), the finding of a message in the sea calling for help, ...

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Finding a message in a bottle, the group decides to use a freshly-built small ship to explore the nearby Tabor Island, where a castaway is supposedly sheltered. They go and find Ayrton, living like a wild beast, and bring him back to civilization and redemption. Coming back to Lincoln Island, they are confused by a tempest, but find their way to the island thanks to a fire beacon; which no one seems to have lit.

Related Topics:
Tabor Island - Ayrton

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At a point, Ayrton's former crew of pirates arrives at the Lincoln Island to use it as their hideout. After some fighting with the heroes, the pirate ship is mysteriously destroyed by an explosion, and the pirates themselves are found dead, apparently in combat, but with no visible wounds.

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The secret of the island is revealed when it turns out to be Captain Nemo's hideout, and home harbour of the Nautilus (from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea). Captain Nemo had been the savior of the heroes, provided them with the box of equipment, sent the message about Ayrton, torpedoed the pirate ship and killed the pirates with an electric gun. Nemo dies of old age and the Nautilus is scuttled to be Nemo's tomb.

Related Topics:
Captain Nemo - Nautilus - Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

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Eventually, the island explodes in a volcano eruption, and the castaways, warned by Nemo, find themselves at sea on a raft. They are rescued by the Duncan, come to pick up Ayrton, and itself informed by a message left on Tabor Island by Nemo.

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Notes

• {{note|smith-name}} named Cyrus Harding in some adaptations.
• {{note|orig-names}} In the French original, some characters were named little differently: Gédéon Spillet, Nabuchodonosor (Nab) and Harbert Brown.