1-13 What is Found Upon Top

The Mysterious Island

by Jules VERNE (1828 - 1905)

A story of castaways, similar to Robinson Crusoe and The Swiss Family Robinson, this book details the escape from Civil War-era Richmond, Virginia, of five Northern men who dared to go aloft in a balloon in the midst of a hurricane. Deposited on a lonely island in the Pacific, they make do with Yankee ingenuity where Chance has left them nothing. Only later do they find they have a hidden benefactor: Captain Nemo, of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, who resides, alone, secretly on the island. In time, the tiny colony becomes so prosperous that it is able to rescue another castaway from an island a hundred miles away. But all their work will come to naught - their island's volcano is about to awake!(Summary by Mark)

Listen next episodes of The Mysterious Island:
1-14 Measuring the Cliff. Latitude of the Island. , 1-15 It Is Decided to Winter on the Island , 1-16 The Question of a Dwelling is Again Discussed. , 1-17 Visit to the Lake. The Indicating Current. , 1-18 Pencroft Now Doubts Nothing , 1-19 Cyrus Harding's Project. The Rope Ladder. , 1-20 The Rainy Season. The Question of Clothes. , 1-21 Some Degrees Below Zero. , 1-22 Traps. Foxes. Peccaries. , 2-01 Conversation on the Subject of the Bullet , 2-02 First Trial of the Canoe. A Wreck on the Coast. , 2-03 The Start. The Rising Tide. , 2-04 Journey to the Coast. Troops of Monkeys. , 2-05 Proposal to Return By the Southern Shore , 2-06 Pencroft's Halloos. A Night in the Chimneys. , 2-07 Plans. A Bridge Over the Mercy. , 2-08 Linen. Shoes of Seal-Leather. , 2-09 Bad Weather. The Hydraulic Lift. , 2-10 Boat-Building. Second Crop of Corn. , 2-11 Winter. Felling Wood. The Mill. , 2-12 The Rigging of the Vessel , 2-13 Departure Decided Upon. Conjectures. , 2-14 The Inventory. Night. A Few Letters. , 2-15 The Return. Discussion. , 2-16 A Mystery to be Cleared Up. , 2-17 Still Alone. The Stranger's Request. , 2-18 Conversation. Cyrus Harding and Gideon Spilett. , 2-19 Recollections of Their Native Land , 2-20 A Night at Sea. Shark Gulf. Confidences. , 3-01 Lost or Saved? Ayrton Summoned. , 3-02 Discussions. Presentiments. , 3-03 The Mist Rises. The Engineer's Preparations. , 3-04 The Colonists on the Beach. , 3-05 The Engineer's Declaration. , 3-06 Expeditions Planned. Ayrton at the Corral. , 3-07 The Reporter and Pencroft in the Corral , 3-08 The Convicts in the Neighborhood of the Corral , 3-09 No news of Neb. A Proposal. , 3-10 Herbert Carried to Granite House , 3-11 Inexplicable Mystery. Herbert's Convalescence. , 3-12 Exploration on the Serpentine Peninsula. , 3-13 Ayrton's Story. A Subterranean Volcano. , 3-14 Three Years Have Passed. The New Vessel. , 3-15 The Awakening of the Volcano. The Fine Season. , 3-16 Captain Nemo. His First Words. , 3-17 Last Moments of Captain Nemo , 3-18 Reflections of the Colonists , 3-19 Cyrus Harding's Account of His Exploration , 3-20 An Isolated Rock in the Pacific