Red bandReady now · Open and print today

Antarctic Prison

Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea by Jules Verne · Episode 6 of 8

This episode is drawn from chapters 35 through 39 of Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea, first published in 1869–1870 as serialized fiction. Verne, a pioneer of science fiction, combined meticulous research with imaginative speculation to create plausible futuristic technology. The Antarctic expedition demonstrates his method: the physics of ice and water density are accurate, the submarine's electric power was visionary, and the South Pole would not actually be reached until Amundsen's expedition in 1911, more than forty years after Verne imagined this scene. This text reflects its era; a few period maritime terms have been modernised. The episode is worth reading for its portrait of human endurance under extreme conditions, its exploration of the tension between scientific wonder and mortal danger, and its depiction of a leader whose brilliance is inseparable from his recklessness—a combination that will bear bitter fruit in the episodes to follow.

Band

Red · Complex language and analysisTypical starting range: ages 15–17

Length

long · about 1701 words in 5 sections · 2 pictures

Source

Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea, Jules Verne

First published

see the About page in the reader

Regions

Canada · United States

Included formats

• · Web reader and PDF
• · EPUB for e-readers
• · Home-print sheet
• · Folded booklet
• · Binder edition (8.5 × 11)
• · Worksheet
• · Quick Check (11 questions) with answer key
• · Read-aloud script
• · Teacher’s Edition (members)

Readers are engineered from the original public-domain text with AI under HummingRead’s published canon and Content Philosophy, checked by automated audit and sampled by a person. Pictures are made with AI to HummingRead’s brief for each story. How a reader is made.

Report a concern about this reader · What’s in a HummingRead reader