The Survivors of the Chancellor

Rating:
Summary: Shipwreck at sea
Review: As he does most of his book, Verne used some of the events of his age in detailing the adventures of a traveller setting sail from the USA to London. The cargo of cotton catches fire (much like you will hear that square-bailed hay will catch fire if stored wet - due to heat and composting), and the ship struggles to reach land before it burns. To complicate things, the captain is something of a neurotic and has gudied it off course.

The fire is quenched thanks to a crash into a reef; unfortunately the damages that have resulted from both the crash and fire eventually sink the vessel. Two rafts are made; one breaks loose of it's own and the second contains the survivors. Provisions for two or three months are lost during a storm, casualties mount, and canibalism is resorted to. In the end the few survivors land at the mouth of the Amazon.

Verne writes with his usual first person introverted narrative style. Conversation is rare. There's only a faint glimmer of romance involved. In short, this is a serious book, not a "popularist ..." yellowback, as some book critics might note.

Overall, if you are looking for "man's adventure" stories, and a break from touchy-feely novels, this is a good read. It is a break from over-glitz action movies; I could easily imagine a movie, if well directed and not too Hollywoodish, making a bit of money, since no movie I've seen yet has come anywhere near the images that came to mind when reading it. It's a real good suspense/scare story. Makes you glad that despite the failings of today's technology, you don't have to risk getting on board a ship and hear someone say "I've been shipwrecked nine times so far..."