The Final Escape and the Maelstrom

After the sinking of the warship, the atmosphere aboard the Nautilus became unbearable. Captain Nemo, having committed an act of mass destruction, retreated into a state of profound grief and isolation. He was no longer seen on the platform, and the ship's crew vanished from sight. The Nautilus fled northward at tremendous speed, often submerged, and the prisoners lost all sense of time and location. The Canadian harpooner Ned Land, driven to the edge of despair by homesickness and the horrors he had witnessed, resolved to escape at any cost. He found Aronnax and told him that the ship seemed to be under a spell of neglect, with no supervision, and that land was in sight to the east. Aronnax, his conscience revolted by the massacre he had been forced to witness, agreed without hesitation. They planned to take the skiff that night, under cover of darkness, before the moon rose.

The Final Preparations and the Captain's Lament

As the appointed hour of ten o'clock approached, Aronnax, tormented by anxiety, listened at the door of Captain Nemo's stateroom and heard him pacing. The professor steeled himself for a final confrontation, but instead, he crept through the darkened lounge. There, he found Captain Nemo at the organ, lost in a musical trance, playing melancholy harmonies. As Aronnax inched toward the library door, a gasp from the captain froze him. Nemo stood up, crossed his arms, and, like a ghost, murmured his last words that Aronnax would ever hear: "O almighty God! Enough! Enough!" This cry of despair, perhaps a vow of repentance, spurred Aronnax to flee. He rushed to the skiff, where Ned Land and Conseil were already waiting. The Canadian quickly closed and bolted the openings, then began to unscrew the nuts that held the skiff to the Nautilus's hull.

The Maelstrom

Just as Ned Land was working, a sudden commotion erupted inside the Nautilus. Voices shouted a single, dreadful word: "Maelstrom! Maelstrom!" The ship had been swept into the dangerous waters off the Norwegian coast, into the Moskstraumen, a fearsome whirlpool that could suck down even the largest ships. The skiff, still attached to the Nautilus, was caught in the dizzying spiral. The three men were thrown about, their blood frozen with horror as the sea roared around them. The Nautilus itself seemed to fight for its life, its steel muscles cracking. Ned Land shouted to hold on and try to screw the nuts back down, but it was too late. With a cracking sound, the nuts gave way, and the skiff was ripped from its socket, hurled like a stone from a sling into the heart of the vortex. Aronnax's head struck an iron timber, and he lost consciousness.

Aftermath and Conclusion

When Aronnax regained consciousness, he found himself lying in a fisherman's hut on one of the Lofoten Islands. His two companions, safe and sound, were at his bedside. They had survived the Maelstrom, though how they escaped its clutches, Aronnax could not say. The narrative concludes with Aronnax reviewing his record of the voyage, a faithful account of an inconceivable expedition. He wonders about the fate of the Nautilus and Captain Nemo, hoping that the hate in that fierce heart has been appeased and that the scientist may continue his peaceful exploration of the seas. The book ends with the question from Ecclesiastes—"Who can fathom the soundless depths?"—to which Aronnax and Captain Nemo, he believes, have earned the right to reply.