20.000 Λεύγες.....στο Ηφαίστειο της Σαντορίνης

Ξέρετε ότι ο Ιούλιος Βέρν ήταν ανάμεσα στους παρατηρητές της έντονης ηφαιστειακής δράσης της Νέας Καμένης μεταξύ 26 Ιανουαρίου 1866 - 1870. ( Πληροφορίες για την έκρηξη αυτή εδώ

Συγκεκριμένα, στις στο 29ο Κεφάλαιο αναφέρει τα παρακάτω σχετικά με τη Σαντορίνη

 « The panels opened, and I saw the sea entirely white all round. A sulphurous smoke was curling amid the waves, which boiled like water in a copper. I placed my hand on one of the panes of glass, but the heat was so great that I quickly took it off again.

-          Where are we?" I asked.

-          Near the Island of Santorini, sir," replied the Captain. "I wished to give you a sight of the curious spectacle of a submarine eruption.

-          I thought," said I, "that the formation of these new islands was ended."

-          "Nothing is ever ended in the volcanic parts of the sea," replied Captain Nemo; "and the globe is always being worked by subterranean fires. Already, in the nineteenth year of our era, according to Cassiodorus and Pliny, a new island, Theia (the divine), appeared in the very place where these islets have recently been formed. Then they sank under the waves, to rise again in the year 69, when they again subsided. Since that time to our days the Plutonian work has been suspended. But on the 3rd of February, 1866, a new island, which they named George Island, emerged from the midst of the sulphurous vapour near Nea Kameni, and settled again the 6th of the same month. Seven days after, the 13th of February, the Island of Aphroessa appeared, leaving between Nea Kamenni and itself a canal ten yards broad. I was in these seas when the phenomenon occurred, and I was able therefore to observe all the different phases. The Island of Aphroessa, of round form, measured 300 feet in diameter, and 30 feet in height. It was composed of black and vitreous lava, mixed with fragments of felspar. And lastly, on the 10th of March, a smaller island, called Reka, showed itself near Nea Kameni, and since then these three have joined together, forming but one and the same island."

-          "And the canal in which we are at this moment?" I asked.

-          "Here it is," replied Captain Nemo, showing me a map of the Archipelago. "You see, I have marked the new islands."

I returned to the glass. The Nautilus was no longer moving, the heat was becoming unbearable. The sea, which till now had been white, was red, owing to the presence of salts of iron. In spite of the ship's being hermetically sealed, an insupportable smell of sulphur filled the saloon, and the brilliancy of the electricity was entirely extinguished by bright scarlet flames. I was in a bath, I was choking, I was broiled.

-          "We can remain no longer in this boiling water," said I to the Captain.

-          "It would not be prudent," replied the impassive Captain Nemo.

An order was given; the Nautilus tacked about and left the furnace it could not brave with impunity. A quarter of an hour after we were breathing fresh air on the surface. The thought then struck me that, if Ned Land had chosen this part of the sea for our flight, we should never have come alive out of this sea of fire.»

Η Σαντορίνη αναφέρεται αργότερα στο βιβλίο του Ιουλίου Βέρν "20.000 λεύγες κάτω από την θάλασσα" και ήταν η έμπνευση για το βιβλιο "Η Μυστηριώδης Νήσος", όπου, μάλιστα, ο καπετάνιος Νέμο και το πλήρωμα του παρακολουθούν μια ηφαιστειακή έκρηξη.

Το υπόλοιπο βιβλίο του Βερν καθώς και πολλά άλλα μπορείτε να τα διαβάσετε ηλεκτρονικά στο http://www.online-literature.com/ ενώ για το Κεφάλαιο 29 του βιβλίου του εδώ