The (mostly) unofficial Captain Nemo fan club · Owned, crewed and kept afloat by Escape This · who runs this?
The Legend of Captain NemoThe Nautilus Society
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The Crew

Everyone you’ll meet in the legend, and a few the Society made up because the submarine felt lonely.

Crew manifest · Captain Nemo

Captain Nemo

Also known as
The Captain · “Him Downstairs” (Mrs Gale)
Current status
Twenty thousand leagues down and refusing to discuss it
First seen
Perth CBD, 1 December 2023 (on the record)
Motto
“Mind the gauges, and the gauges will mind you.”
Fan rating

Engineer, navigator, inventor and, by his own account, the only man alive who understands every dial aboard the Nautilus. Most days. Sailors call him a myth; he finds this flattering and has stopped correcting them.

He talks to every party that comes aboard through the brass speaking tubes, whether or not they are listening, and writes everything down in his log, except how to get out. He will not write that down. Not even for the Society.

Known for: The speaking tubes · Underlining opening days twice · A long feud with the Beast · Strong views on sandals

Read his log →

Crew manifest · Barnacle

Barnacle

Also known as
The clockwork crab · First Mate (self-appointed)
Current status
Wound up and counting heads at the hatch
First seen
Captain Nemo’s Log, 2023
Motto
“Click. Click-click. (Four, at least four.)”
Fan rating

A brass crab the size of a dinner plate, built by Nemo during a long night in the engine room and wound with a key he keeps on his watch chain. Barnacle counts every party at the hatch and clicks disapprovingly if there are too few.

Fans are divided on whether Barnacle is a pet, a crew member or a security system. Barnacle has not been asked and would not answer, being a crab.

Known for: Counting heads · Getting under the chart table · Clicking at sandals

Portrait of The Beast

Crew manifest · The Beast

The Beast

Also known as
The Kraken · “That Squid” (Nemo, privately)
Current status
Wrapped around something, somewhere
First seen
Sightings from Fremantle to the Heads; officially, Sydney CBD from 26 December 2024
Motto
“(No recorded statement.)”
Fan rating

The monster the expedition was hunting in the first place, and the reason the Nautilus groans. Nobody agrees how big it is; every sailor who has seen it adds a few metres. Nemo calls it the Beast and writes it the occasional stern letter, unanswered.

In Kraken: Nemo’s Revenge the captain finally goes after it, with passengers along as allies. How that hunt ends is Sydney’s to tell, and the Society has sworn not to spoil it.

Known for: Enormous eyes · Leaning on hulls · Ignoring correspondence

The legend of the Beast →

Crew manifest · Professor Isolde Marrow

Professor Isolde Marrow

Also known as
The expedition leader · “The Professor”
Current status
Still taking notes, mostly about the captain
First seen
The expedition that ended up aboard the Nautilus
Motto
“Observe first. Panic second. Ideally not at all.”
Fan rating

The scientist who set out to prove the sea monster was real, and proved the Nautilus was instead. She was invented by the Society to give the expedition a face, and has since been adopted by every party that boards in a tweed jacket.

Her field notebook is the most-quoted document among fans after Nemo’s log. It contains forty-one sketches of gauges, two of the Beast and one of Barnacle, labelled “do not trust”.

Known for: The field notebook · Tweed in all weathers · Arguing with Nemo about tentacle counts

Crew manifest · Ensign Tobias Brine

Ensign Tobias Brine

Also known as
Cabin boy · Lamp-trimmer · Keeper of the biscuit tin
Current status
Polishing brass that is already polished
First seen
Fan fiction, 2024, and now firmly canon (to us)
Motto
“Aye, Captain. Which lever?”
Fan rating

The youngest member of the expedition in Society lore, and the patron saint of every nine-year-old who has boarded with their family. Tobias trims the lamps, guards the biscuit tin and is the only person Barnacle lets past without clicking.

Fans credit Tobias with the Society’s first rule of the deep: if a lever looks important, ask a grown-up, then pull it together.

Known for: The biscuit tin · Friendship with Barnacle · Asking which lever

Crew manifest · Mrs Winifred Gale

Mrs Winifred Gale

Also known as
The harbourmaster · Seller of sightings charts
Current status
On the quay, with an opinion and a thermos
First seen
The Fathom Gazette letters page
Motto
“If it’s not on my chart, it didn’t happen. If it is, it costs extra.”
Fan rating

Every port in the legend has a harbourmaster, and in the Society’s version it is always Mrs Gale. She keeps the big chart of Beast sightings, sells copies at the quay and refers to Nemo exclusively as “Him Downstairs”.

She claims to have rowed out to the Nautilus once to complain about the noise. Nemo’s log has no record of this, which she says proves her point.

Known for: The sightings chart · Letters to the Gazette · Feud with Nemo over mooring fees

Captain Nemo is Jules Verne’s; Barnacle and the Beast’s nickname come from the captain’s log on escapenemo.com.au. Professor Marrow, Ensign Brine and Mrs Gale were invented by the Society.