Stories told on quays, in taverns and on the way out of the submarine. Rated in anchors for believability, which is generous.
Fiction. Legends, sightings and most of the crew are invented. The submarine is real.
Told on every quay from Fremantle to Circular Quay
Fishermen say that on still nights the Beast hums, a note so low you feel it in the planks before you hear it. Nemo’s log calls this “indigestion”. Professor Marrow’s notebook calls it “a resonant phenomenon, possibly emotional”. Mrs Gale calls it a reason to charge extra for night charts.
Verdict: Something hums. Whether it’s the Beast or the Nautilus’s pumps is a matter of fierce debate.
From the tavern tales the room’s story begins with
The sailors’ legend says Nemo alone has seen the drowned ruins of Atlantis. The Society’s legend adds a bell: a great bronze bell in a sunken square, which rings once whenever the Nautilus passes overhead. Nemo refuses to confirm or deny the bell, which fans take as confirmation.
Verdict: A lovely story. No passenger has reported a bell. Several have reported Barnacle.
Society members who have never been there
Nemo never sets foot on land, the legend goes, except on his Mysterious Island. Fans have placed it off Rottnest, inside the Heads and, in one heated thread, underneath Collins Street. The Society’s official position is that it is wherever the captain left his good boots.
Verdict: Not on any chart, including Mrs Gale’s, which is suspicious in itself.
Passengers, comparing notes on the way out
Every party that boards the failing Nautilus has the same hour of air. The legend says the hour is a contract: Nemo agreed it with the sea long ago, and the sea is very strict about time. Fans who have escaped with seconds to spare swear the gauges slowed down for them. The gauges have not commented.
Verdict: The hour is real. The contract is not. The seconds-to-spare stories are mostly real.
Mrs Gale, who found it
A bottle washed up on the quay with a letter inside, addressed “To the Beast, c/o the Ocean” and signed with a large N underlined twice. Mrs Gale framed it and charges admission. The Society has examined it and can confirm the handwriting matches the log and the spelling is excellent.
Verdict: Nemo’s log says he writes the Beast stern letters. This one is very stern.
Parties of three, every one of them
Legend has it that a party of three once talked its way aboard by convincing Barnacle that the third person was two people in a large coat. Barnacle counted four. Nemo, it is said, counted three and sent them home to find a friend.
Verdict: Barnacle cannot be fooled by a coat. Captain Nemo in Perth always needs at least four players, so bring a friend.
