Jules Verne and the Heroes of Birkenhead - In Eight Novels - Jules Verne's love affair with Birkenhead.
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Jules Verne and the Heroes of Birkenhead.
Part 2.
In Eight Novels - Jules Verne’s love affair with Birkenhead.
By John Lamb
(Former Head of Geography, The Liverpool Blue Coat School, England)
Part 2. In Eight Novels - Jules Verne’s love affair with Birkenhead.
Above –The hidden symbolism of Jules Verne’s Robur the Conqueror (1886) is clearly
displayed on the Birkenhead town crest and Robur’s flag (top right).
Jules Verne (1828 -1905) is rightly known as the father of
modern science fiction, his most famous books such as
Around the World in Eighty days, Journey to the Centre of the
Earth, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and its sequel
The Mysterious Island have sold in their millions and his total
works known as the ‘Voyages Extraordinaires’ have been
translated into more languages than William Shakespeare.
Jules Verne c1865.
To the older generation the film versions of his books are a part of our childhood with James
Mason playing both Captain Nemo in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1954) and
Professor Lidenbrock in Journey to the Centre of the Earth (1959). David Niven gives a
masterful performance as Phileas Fogg in Around the World in Eighty Days (1956) and the
giant crab and wasp steal the show in Ray Harryhausen’s 1960 version of ‘Mysterious
Island’. More recently Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson returned in ‘Journey 2 The Mysterious
Island’ (2012) to bring Captain Nemo’s Nautilus back to civilization – a submarine craft,
which, as we have seen was largely forged in the shipyards of Birkenhead.
Why Birkenhead?
Jules Verne did not venture outside France until the relatively advanced age of 31 – and when
he did, the first place he came to visit was Liverpool and Birkenhead.
Why Birkenhead? The answer lies in the
culture of enterprise amongst the town’s
entrepreneurs, scientists and town planners,
whose advances, both in war and peacetime,
directly affected the Victorian world.
As yet, the disciples of progress have not been
able exactly to match this instance of
Damascus, but it is said that they have great
faith in the future of
BIRKENHEAD.” (Benjamin Disraeli 1847)
Birkenhead in 1865.
The contemporary accounts of other writers are important as Verne was an avid consumer of
books and periodicals in his quest for what became known as the ‘encyclopaedic novel’.
One writer who may have influenced Verne was Frederick Law
Olmsted, the celebrated American town planner, who visited
Birkenhead in 1851 to view the first public park in the world.
Olmsted based his design for Central Park, New York on Sir
Joseph Paxton’s Birkenhead Park, and his writings are a good a
source as any to gain an outsider’s view of this, the ‘City of the
Future’.
Frederick Law Olmsted (1822-1903)
In his 1852 book ‘Walks and Talks of an American farmer in England’ Olmsted wrote of
Birkenhead:
‘All about the town, lands, which a few years ago were almost worthless wastes, have become
of priceless value; where no sound was heard but the bleating of goats, and braying of asses
complaining of the pasturage; there is now the hasty click and clatter of a hundred busy
trowels and hammers. You may drive through wide and thronged streets of stately edifices,
where there were only a few scattered huts surrounded by quagmires. Docks of unequalled
size and grandeur are building, and a forest of masts grows along the shore; and there is no
doubt that this young town is to be not only remarkable as a most agreeable and healthy
place of residence but that it will soon be distinguished for extensive and profitable
commerce. It seems to me to be the only town I ever saw that has been really built at all in
accordance with the advanced science, taste and enterprising spirit that are supposed to
distinguish the nineteenth century.’
Walks and Talks of an American farmer in England. Frederick Law Olmsted 1852.
There is no evidence that Verne read
Olmsted, although he certainly knew about
Birkenhead Park and he will allude to it in
later works. What is important at this stage
is that Olmsted captures the moment, the
atmosphere, and the potential not of a city
but of a small growing town to achieve
greatness.
The Opening of Birkenhead Park
Illustrated London News 1847
Olmsted acknowledged the importance of Birkenhead Park in creating his own design for
Central Park New York. Both parks will unite to play further roles in our story.
Boathouse and Bridge Central Park, New York Boathouse and Bridge Birkenhead
Park
Jules Verne refers to Birkenhead or Laird’s shipyard in seven of his novels, all of them fairly
evenly spaced throughout his 40-year collection of adventures called the Voyages
Extraordinaires.
It is an impressive list, and the references are quoted here in full, starting with Jules Verne’s
first visit to Birkenhead in 1859 and recorded in his book ‘Backwards to Britain’ (1859).
Backwards to Britain by Jules Verne (1859) In 1859, at the age of 31, Jules Verne’s took his first trip abroad, he landed at Liverpool, and took a ferry across the River Mersey to Woodside, Birkenhead. He wrote about his visit in his semi-autobiographical novel ‘Backwards to Britain (1859). The novel was only released in 1989 after initially being rejected by Verne’s publisher Pierre Jules Hetzel. Further analysis of the content suggests some parts of Backwards to Britain may have been written after 1859. After a long walk, which enabled the two friends to discover all these extraordinary sights without pausing to dwell on details, they reached a floating wharf on iron rafts which rose and fell with the tide, making it easier to reach and leave the Birkenhead ferries. The steamboats used for this crossing are equipped with rudders at both the helm and the bow: by using them alternately, the ferryman does not need to manoeuvre and thus saves precious minutes. The boats are always crowded with passengers and, although the crossing lasts barely ten minutes, every ferry is equipped with a compass, since fog is common on the river and can blot out the opposite shore. Waiting for the ferry to Birkenhead c1880. Illustrated London News. With Jonathan in tow, Jacques jumped in to one and for the modest price of one penny they crossed over to Birkenhead. People of all social ranks crowded on deck. There was no distinction between first class and second-class seats. Tradesmen, fishwives and workers sat side by side without bothering their neighbours: any distinction would have wounded the British sense of equality.
Jonathan found himself sitting next to a poor girl with an empty basket who was returning to Birkenhead at the end of her day’s work. The sweet pretty features of her worn face were moving to behold: her head sunk on her bosom, her crossed bare feet, the apathy of her careless posture, all betrayed a hopeless resignation. Jonathan entered into conversation with the poor girl and learned that her mother had died on giving birth to a fifth child and that her father had abandoned the distressed family. Being the eldest sister. She had four children to bring up. Until now she had succeeded not in feeding them, but in delaying the time when they would starve to death. She told Jonathan of her sufferings with dry eyes where tears had long since ceased to flow. Nothing was more depressing than this story, which is the fate of so many Liverpool workers. Aboard the Ferry to Birkenhead c1880. Jonathan gave the girl a few coins and her only surprise seemed to be that a foreigner should take an interest in her. On reaching the landing-stage, she soon disappeared, without looking back. What a grim fate awaited that girl! A life of misery if she concentrated on doing her duty, of shame if she heeded the advice of her dangerous charms. Jules Verne Backwards to Britain (1859, not published until 1989 –Butcher translation). Here Jules Verne is fully aware that Birkenhead may not be the paradise envisaged by Frederick Law Olmsted and Disraeli, indeed his view is more Dickensian than Utopian. Nevertheless, Jules Verne will later take a sideswipe at the great American author Nathanial Hawthorne and his own disparaging comments about the ‘brown bread’ nature of the clientele of Birkenhead Park.
The Adventures of Captain Hatteras by Jules Verne (1864)
Jules Verne’s epic collection of 54 novels is
called the Voyages Extraordinaires and the
collection starts on the Mersey at Birkenhead
with Verne’s first novel - The Adventures of
Captain Hatteras (1864).
Aventures du Capitaine Hatteras – Le Anglais
au Pole Nord (1864)
The novel, set in 1861 describes a British expedition to the North Pole led by Captain John
Hatteras and is heavily influenced by the 1847 exploits of the Arctic explorer Sir John
Franklin and his search for the Northwest Passage. In the novel, Richard Shandon’s ship, the
Forward is built in Birkenhead.
The rumours built up over the last three months were still enough to keep the Liverpudlian
tongues wagging…
…The brig had been built in Birkenhead, a veritable suburb on the left bank of the Mersey,
linked to the port by the ceaseless to and fro of the steamboats…
Little but little, the brig had taken shape in the shipyard, with
her qualities of strength and elegance impressing the experts.
Not a day passed that Shandon did not visit Birkenhead.
The day of departure, 5 April, arrived. Soon the Forward was
out of the docks, and, directed by a Liverpool pilot, whose
small cutter followed at a distance, it found the current of the
Mersey. The two topsails, the foresail, and the brigantine were
quickly hoisted, and, under this sail, the Forward, worthy of its
name, after rounding the headland of Birkenhead, headed at
full speed into the Irish Sea.
Jules Verne The Adventures of Captain Hatteras (1864).
There is one intriguing line from Verne, as the Forward lies anchored off Birkenhead.
Thus, on the Nautilus, which was lying at anchor near her, a group of sailors were trying to
make out the probable destination of the Forward.
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1869) by Jules Verne.
As we have already seen, Birkenhead is the spiritual and physical home of Captain Nemo and
the Nautilus.
“But how could you construct this wonderful
Nautilus in secret?”
‘Each separate portion M. Arronax was
brought from different parts of the globe. The
keel was forged at Creusot, the shaft of the
screw at Penn and Co’s, London, the iron plates
of her hull at Laird’s of Liverpool, the screw
itself at Scott’s at Glasgow.
The reservoirs were made at Cail & Co at
Paris, the engine by Krupp in Prussia, its beak
in Motola’s workshop in Sweden, its
mathematical instruments by Hart Brothers of
New York; etc and each of these people had my
orders under different names.’
I set up my workshops on a small desert
island in the middle of the ocean. There
with my workmen, that is my good
companions whom I instructed and
trained, I completed our Nautilus’
Jules Verne Twenty Thousand Leagues
Under the Sea (1869)
Captain Nemo’s explanation to Arronax
(modelled by Verne himself).
The further adventures of Captain Nemo will be revealed in both the novels Twenty Thousand
Leagues Under the Sea (1869) and its sequel The Mysterious Island (1874).
A Floating City (1871) by Jules Verne.
In 1867 Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s SS Great Eastern successfully laid the first fully
operational telegraphic cable across the Atlantic – perhaps the greatest technological
achievement of the Victorian Age – an achievement that had its inception in Birkenhead.
Later that year the vessel was converted back into a passenger liner by Laird’s shipyard of
Birkenhead. The Great Eastern had been newly commissioned by the French Emperor
Napoleon III to sail to the United States to collect American delegates who wished to attend
the Great Paris Exposition of 1867. There would be a number of special guests on board and
one of those guests leaving Tranmere, Birkenhead would be the French novelist, Jules Verne.
Jules Verne’s novel A Floating City describes his departure from the deep-water anchorage of
the Tranmere Sloyne that day and continues the author’s lifelong fascination with Isambard
Kingdom Brunel’s SS Great Eastern.
The Great Eastern - a ship that was completed with money from Birkenhead, sailed from
Birkenhead and whose remains, lie to this very day, interred in the mud of Birkenhead.
First of all the anchor had to be raised. ‘The Great
Eastern’ swung round with the tide; all was now clear,
and Captain Anderson was obliged to choose this
moment to set sail, for the width of the ‘Great Eastern
did not allow of her turning round in the Mersey.
A quarter past one sounded from the Birkenhead
clock-towers, the moment of departure could not be
deferred, if it was intended to make use of the tide. The
greater part of the passengers on the poop were
gazing at the double landscape of Liverpool and
Birkenhead, studded with manufactory chimneys.
It was not long before the ‘Great Eastern’ was
opposite the Liverpool Landing-stages. There
were thousands of spectators on both the
Liverpool and Birkenhead sides, and boats laden
with sight-seers swarmed on the Mersey.
Our last salutation reached us from the platform
of the lighthouse and the walls of the bastion.
Jules Verne A Floating City (1871) (condensed)
The Great Eastern at the Tranmere Sloyne,
A Floating City (1871).
The Adventures of Three Englishmen and Three Russians in South Africa (1872) by Jules Verne. Lairds shipyard’s small role in this novel illustrates once again the high regard that Jules Verne held for all the shipbuilders of Birkenhead. "We will go round the cataract, Mr. Emery," replied the Colonel, "No doubt, Colonel," answered William Emery, "but this steamboat is too heavy...." "Mr. Emery," interrupted the Colonel, "this vessel is a masterpiece from Leard and Co's manufactory in Liverpool. It takes to pieces, and is put together again with the greatest ease, a key and a few bolts being all that is required by men used to the work. You brought a waggon to the falls, did you not?" In the twinkling of an eye the partitions vanished, all the chests and bedsteads were lifted out, and now the vessel was reduced to a mere shell, thirty-five feet long, and composed of three parts, like the "Mâ-Robert," the steam-vessel used by Dr. Livingstone in his first voyage up the Zambesi. It was made of galvanized steel, so that it was light, and at the same time resisting. William Emery was truly astounded at the simplicity of the work and the rapidity with which it was executed. Jules Verne - The Adventures of Three Englishmen and Three Russians in South Africa. (1872) – condensed. In 1858 the great explorer and missionary David Livingstone set off from Birkenhead aboard the steamship Pearl on his second African expedition. The steel sections of the Lairds built Ma Robert, named after Livingstone’s wife, were stored in the hold. David Livingstone, the explorer, missionary, and abolitionist will have two other significant roles to play in our adventure – he is indeed a true ‘Hero of Birkenhead’
The Survivors of the Chancellor (1874) by Jules Verne.
The “Chancellor” is a fine square-rigged
three-master, of 900 tons burden, and
belongs to the wealthy Liverpool firm of
Laird Brothers. She is two years old, is
sheathed and secured with copper, her decks
being of teak, and the base of all her masts,
except the mizzen, with all their fittings
being of iron.
The Survivors of the Chancellor follows the
desperate fight for the survival aboard a ship
bound for Liverpool with a cargo of slowly
burning cotton in the hold.
The crew and passengers finally abandon
the ship in a makeshift raft and take their
chances with the burning heat, storms,
sharks … and each other.
Jules Verne - The Survivors of the
Chancellor (1874)
An Antarctic Mystery (1897) by Jules Verne.
Solidly built, copper-bottomed, very
manageable, well suited for navigation
between the fortieth and sixtieth
parallels of south latitude, the Halbrane
was a credit to the ship-yards of
Birkenhead.
This is Jules Verne’s sequel to Edgar
Allen Poe’s 1838 novel The Narrative of
Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket.
The crew of the Halbrane eventually
find Pym’s body at the foot of a gigantic
magnetic mountain in the shape of an
‘Ice Sphynx’ The metal parts of his boat
having been ripped apart by the
irresistible magnetic forces.
Jules Verne - An Antarctic Mystery
(1897)Traveling Scolarships (1903) by Jules Verne.
The Alert was three years
old, built in Birkenhead in
the yards of Simpson and Company.
It had only made two voyages to
India, to Bombay, Ceylon, and
Calcutta, and then had returned
directly to Liverpool, its port of
registry.
Traveling Scholarships follows the
adventures of a group of students
whose ship The Alert is taken over by
a group of pirates en route to
Barbados. This was the last Jules
Verne novel to be translated into
English (2013) and his last to
mention Birkenhead.
Jules Verne Traveling Scolarships
(1903)
Jules Verne was obviously very fond of his ‘veritable suburb’ despite the obvious poverty
and inequality that he had previously witnessed in the town. As we shall see, the town of
Birkenhead will have a far greater influence on the ‘Father of Science Fiction’ than it first
appears, but before we explore this, perhaps we need to know more about the great Jules
Verne himself.
Next in Jules Verne and the Heroes of Birkenhead.
Part 3. Who Was Jules Verne?I dream with my
eyes open.
Jules Verne
Illustrations for Part 2
-Acknowledgements-Page and Photographic Acknowledgement P Photograph 1a TRIXES Large French Flag 1b Heraldry-wiki.com 1c Talbot Flags 1d Wikisource – La Bibliotheque Libre 2a Wikisource – La Bibliotheque Libre 2b Heraldry-wiki.com 2c Wikisource – La Bibliotheque Libre 2d Bonjourparis.com 2e Pinterest 2f Heritage Auctions 2g Walmart.com 2h Movieposter.com 2i Filmbankmedia 3a Gettyimages 3b nycgovparks.org 4a pxpixels 4b Pending 4c Friends of Birkenhead Park 5a Illustrated London News 6a Pending 7a Wikisource – La Bibliotheque Libre 7b Wikisource – La Bibliotheque Libre 8a Wikisource – La Bibliotheque Libre 8b Wikisource – La Bibliotheque Libre 9a Wikisource – La Bibliotheque Libre 9b Wikisource – La Bibliotheque Libre 10a Wikisource – La Bibliotheque Libre 11a Wikisource – La Bibliotheque Libre 11b Wikisource – La Bibliotheque Libre 12a Wikisource – La Bibliotheque Libre 13a Heraldry-wiki.com
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