Yearly Archives: 2022

Eighty Days – Day 62

It’s been awhile, but we’re back on course with my blog-trip Around the World in Eighty Days, 150 years after the novel’s publication. Phileas Fogg and his companions crossed the Pacific and reached San Francisco, after sailing from Yokohama.

So far, they’ve traveled 17,967 miles. That’s 73.2% of the distance, but they’ve consumed 77.5% of the wagered 80 days, so Fogg is behind schedule.

They sailed aboard the SS General Grant of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company. That company existed, though it closed down in 1949. Their fleet never included a ship named SS General Grant. Verne could have picked a real ship, but didn’t. Of note, a three-masted ship by that name existed, though not as large as Verne’s fictional one. It wrecked off the Auckland Islands in 1866.

In the story, the ship arrived at 7:00am but the train to Ogden, Utah wouldn’t depart until 6:00pm, so they visited San Francisco.  Fogg got his passport visaed, as he’d been doing all along at British consulates. Passepartout, fearful of attacks on trains by Native Americans, suggested the purchase of some firearms. Detective Fix, who’d taken the same ship across the Pacific, asked Fogg if he could accompany the group back to London. Fogg agreed, not knowing Fix intended to arrest him. They ate at the International Hotel.

The group got caught up in the clamor of election day riots on Montgomery Street. A candidate named Camerfield ran against an opponent named Mandiboy. The disturbance turned violent and Fogg had a run-in with a ruffian named Colonel Stamp Proctor. Later, Fogg learned the election concerned, not a president or even a mayor, but a justice of the peace—Verne’s little joke about American democracy.  

American elections typically occurred, then and now, in November, not December. The country had elected Ulysses S. Grant on November 5, with votes just tabulated on the 29th. San Franciscans had elected William Alvord as mayor the year before. Citizens of that city numbered about 150,000.

Montgomery Street, San Francisco, 1854

Today, Montgomery Street stretches from Pioneer Park and the Coit Tower in the north, past Telegraph Hill, then the TransAmerica Pyramid, to Market Street at the south end. The U.S. President is Joe Biden. San Francisco’s mayor is London Breed, and the city’s population exceeds 815,000.

International Hotel, San Francisco

The International Hotel, or I-Hotel, existed and enjoyed a rich history. Built in 1854 on Jackson Street, it moved to Kearny Street in 1873 (just after Verne’s story), was rebuilt in 1907 after the earthquake, and demolished in 1981.

In 2022, you don’t need to spend nineteen days aboard a ship to travel from Yokohama to San Francisco. You can fly from nearby Tokyo to San Fran in about thirteen hours.

As a reminder, you may now buy my book, 80 Hours, in paperback form here. It’s my tribute to, and modern take on, Jules Verne’s classic tale.

Back when he made the bet, Fogg stated, “The unforeseen does not exist.” This trip has included almost nothing but the unforeseen. Our party now boards the train and heads for Ogden, Utah. They should reach that city in a couple of days without any excitement or adventure. Let’s sneak aboard and join them, shall we? Just you and—

Poseidon’s Scribe

December 3, 2022Permalink

Eighty Days – Day 43

Glad you’re back. We’re just past the halfway mark of our sesquicentennial trip Around the World in Eighty Days. Phileas Fogg has reached Yokohama, having traveled 12,819 miles. That’s 52.2% of the distance he must cover, and 53.8% of his time has elapsed.

Back on November 6 in Hong Kong, Detective Fix got Passepartout drunk and drugged in an opium den, then left him there. Waiters carried the servant to a bed. After waking and wandering in a stupor, he boarded the steamer Carnatic, then collapsed. Sailors carried him to his cabin. He awoke on the 7th, glad he’d made it to the ship, but dismayed to find neither Phileas Fogg nor Princess Aouda aboard.

Car of Juggernaut

Passepartout arrived in Yokohama on the 13th and joined an acrobatic troupe. The performers wore wings and headgear with fake noses of bamboo about six feet long or longer, in tribute to the god ‘Tingou.’ As its final act, the troupe imitated the ‘Car of Juggernaut,’ with acrobats balancing four levels high.

Meanwhile, having transferred to the SS General Grant in Singapore, Fogg and Aouda arrived in Yokohama on the 14th and found Passepartout had sailed on the Carnatic. By chance, they saw the performance of the acrobatic troupe. Passepartout recognized his master and ran to him, collapsing the Car of Juggernaut. Still wearing his wings and nose, he boarded the General Grant with his master and the princess.

SS Carnatic

The Carnatic existed, an actual ship of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company. In 1869, (before the time of Verne’s story) she ran aground on a coral reef in the Red Sea and broke apart with the loss of 31 lives. Rediscovered in 1984, the wreck now serves as a popular scuba diving site.

Where Verne got his information about acrobats with wings and long noses, I don’t know. By the term ‘Tingou,’ he likely meant Tengu, legendary creatures of Japanese folklore, often imagined with bird-like features. Why they’d form a ‘Car of Juggernaut’ arrangement, I can’t imagine, as that term owes its origin to India, not Japan.

By 1872, Yokohama had grown from a fishing village to Japan’s primary port, with 64,000 people. Only recently had the country ended its seclusion policy of Sakoku (chained country), and opened up to foreign trade. Emperor Meiji, the 122nd Emperor of Japan, ruled the nation. During his reign, he presided over the ‘Meiji Restoration’ which industrialized and modernized Japan.

Between that time and ours, Yokohama got destroyed twice, once by the Great Kanto earthquake of 1923 and later by World War II air raids from 1942 to 1945. Today, as the second most populous city in Japan, it’s home to 2.3M people. The Emperor (the 126th) is Naruhito, and the Prime Minister is Fumio Kishida.

Fogg required 3 days to sail from Shanghai to Yokohama, but today you could fly that route in 11 hours, with a stop in Shenzhen and arriving in nearby Tokyo. Passepartout’s 7-day trip from Hong Kong reduces to a 4-hour direct flight to Tokyo today.

On a related topic, my book 80 Hours is now available in paperback. For those of you who waited, or for those of you who prefer print books over ebooks, now is your chance. You can only get this version through Amazon. You’ll love the story, and it makes a great gift for the other Vernians in your life.

We don’t know where Detective Fix got off to, but Fogg and Aouda reunited with Passepartout and boarded the SS General Grant, bound for San Francisco. If it arrives on December 3, as scheduled, that’s the day you’ll read the next blogpost entry by—

Poseidon’s Scribe

November 14, 2022Permalink

Eighty Days – Day 40

Welcome back to my blog-tour Around the World in Eighty Days, a celebration of the 150th anniversary of Jules Verne’s classic novel. At the moment, we’re near Shanghai, about three miles from that city’s harbor. So far, 50% of Fogg’s 80 days has elapsed, and he’s traversed 11,619 miles, or 48.8% of the distance.

Things are a big snarled, but hang with me. Fogg and Aouda lost Passepartout in Hong Kong. Detective Fix had gotten the servant so drunk and drugged that he’d passed out in an opium den. Fogg missed the steamer Carnatic, due to sail from Hong Kong to Yokohama, where he needed to catch the large, trans-Pacific steamship SS General Grant.

He boarded the tiny sailing ship Tankadere bound for Shanghai after her captain assured him the General Grant started from Shanghai before sailing to Yokohama. He and Princess Aouda both hoped Passepartout had somehow gotten aboard the Carnatic without them.

During the trip to Shanghai, Fogg dined with Detective Fix, never knowing Fix intended to arrest him when the warrant caught up. A typhoon battered the small ship and it seemed they’d reach Shanghai too late to embark aboard the SS General Grant. Just three miles from the harbor, they sighted the huge American steamship on its way out of port. They signaled with a distress flag and cannon, hoping the ship would approach and allow a transfer of passengers.

Custom House in Shanghai, around 1872

In 1872, Shanghai held a population of about 700,000, led by a ‘circuit intendant’ named Shen Bingcheng. They abolished the office title of circuit intendant around 1906, and sometime later began calling them mayors.

The port in Shanghai today

Today, Shanghai surpasses all other Chinese cities in population, with 24.9 million. It ranks as the second most populous city in the world, and contains the world’s busiest port. Gong Zheng serves as its mayor.

Getting from Hong Kong to Shanghai today doesn’t require sailing for four days in a small sailing ship during a typhoon. You can fly between the two in less than 14 hours, including an 8-hour stop in Chengdu.  

If this blogpost series has stirred your interest in Jules Verne, you’ll enjoy reading an upcoming anthology called Extraordinary Visions: Stories Inspired by Jules Verne. It’s the first fiction anthology produced by the North American Jules Verne Society. Here’s what its cover will look like, and as soon as it’s published, you’ll see an announcement at the society’s website and here at my blog.

Let’s see if Fogg, Aouda, and Fix will be able to board the General Grant. If they do, they might reach Yokohama by November 14, if you can believe navigational calculations performed by—

Poseidon’s Scribe

November 11, 2022Permalink

Eighty Days – Days 35 and 36

Today we continue the 150th anniversary commemoration of Jules Verne’s Around the World in Eighty Days. We’re following along with Phileas Fogg and we just reached Hong Kong aboard the steamship Rangoon. So far, we’ve traveled 10,819 miles, or 44.1% distance in just 43.9% of the time.

Detective Fix boarded the Rangoon in secret, having left instructions to forward the warrant for Fogg’s arrest to Hong Kong. The ship stopped in Singapore to load coal on October 31. On the northbound passage, a tempest delayed the ship’s arrival until 1:00 pm on November 6. Fogg’s next ship, the Carnatic, was supposed to have left for Yokohama on the 5th, but was delayed until the 7th for boiler repairs.

Fogg and Aouda secured rooms in a hotel. He discovered Aouda’s cousin had left China and gone to Holland, so Fogg promised to take her there, after reaching London to win his bet. He sent Passepartout to purchase three tickets on the Carnatic.

Upon meeting Fix, Passepartout bought four tickets, but was told the ship would depart early, that night, the 6th, rather than the next morning. Fix lured Passepartout into a tavern—really, an opium den—and plied him with drinks and opium until he passed out.

The next morning, the 7th, Fogg found the Carnatic gone, and Passepartout missing. He made arrangements to sail on the tiny Tankadere, a twenty-ton, two-masted craft.

Hong Kong in 1872

By 1872, Hong Kong had grown into a major shipping port with a population approaching 122,000. Since the end of the Second Opium War in 1860, Britain had controlled the city. Sir Arthur Kennedy served as the city’s Colonial Administrator.

Today, Hong Kong, one of the world’s most densely populated places, teems with 7,291,600 people. Designated the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China, the region’s Chief Executive is John Lee and its Chief Secretary is Eric Chan.

From what I could determine, the SS Rangoon existed. According to this site, this one, and this one, after her launching in 1863, she sailed for the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P&O) until being wrecked in 1871 (before the events of our story).

Modern travelers need not cruise aboard a steamship for 12 days from Kolkata to Hong Kong. A flight takes less than 8 hours, and that includes a 2-hour stop in Bangkok.

Interested in all things Jules Verne? Did you know there’s a North American Jules Verne Society? It’s a sort of JV fan club. Check it out here. Also, I’m pleased to reveal the cover image for the society’s upcoming anthology, Extraordinary Visions: Stories Inspired by Jules Verne. This anthology includes stories from today’s authors who captured the wonder and adventure of Verne in their tales. Read short stories by Mike Adamson, Joel Allegretti, Gustavo Bondoni, Demetri Capetanopoulos, Brenda Carre, Eric Choi, Christopher M. Geeson, Kelly A. Harmon, David A. Natale, Alison L. Randall, Janice Rider, Michael Schulkins, and Joseph S. Walker. Artist Amanda Bergloff, created the cover art. In a few months, you should be able to buy the anthology itself. Stay tuned to my blog for news.

200 miles separate Hong Kong from Shanghai, and the Tankadere makes between 8 and 9 knots. If nothing unforeseen occurs, we should make it there by November 11. The captain, John Bunsby, has just hoisted sails at 3:10 pm. Though Passepartout is missing, you’d better get aboard, along with Fogg, Aouda, Fix, and—

Poseidon’s Scribe

November 6, 2022Permalink

An Extraordinary Cover Reveal

You’re expecting another episode in my blogpost series following the path of Phileas Fogg in Around the World in Eighty Days. Sorry, but he and his companions are still on their way from Kolkata to Hong Kong aboard the Rangoon.

Today, I’m revealing the cover for the upcoming anthology Extraordinary Visions: Stories Inspired by Jules Verne. This is the first fiction anthology produced by the North American Jules Verne Society. I’m proud to have been, along with Father Matthew Hardesty, a co-editor for this project.

In the cover image, artist Amanda Bergloff captured the far-reaching imagination of Verne in her depiction of a squid, balloon airship, deep-sea diver, compass, and moon.

Within the anthology, you’ll find short stories by today’s authors, each exploring some aspect of the vast Verne oeuvre, each echoing the excitement and adventure of that French Father of Science Fiction. It includes tales by Mike Adamson, Joel Allegretti, Gustavo Bondoni, Demetri Capetanopoulos, Brenda Carre, Eric Choi, Christopher M. Geeson, Kelly A. Harmon, David A. Natale, Alison L. Randall, Janice Rider, Michael Schulkins, and Joseph S. Walker.

The Society is working with the publisher to finalize the anthology itself. It’s expected to launch sometime in the next few months. To find out when and where you can buy this extraordinary anthology, stay tuned to the Society’s website, or to this website by—

Poseidon’s Scribe

October 30, 2022Permalink

Eighty Days – Day 23

Welcome back to the blog-tour commemorating Phileas Fogg’s trip Around the World in Eighty Days, 150 years later. The one-day train ride from Allahabad to Kolkata (then spelled Calcutta) went well.

Calcutta (Kolkata) Harbor in 1872

Along the way, the train stopped at Benares, where Sir Francis Cromarty departed the group. At 7:00 am on the 25th, the train pulled in the station in Calcutta, giving them 5 hours until the steamer would leave at noon. Fogg and Passepartout had covered 7325 miles, about 29.8% of the total distance, and they’d consumed 28.8% of the time.

Princess Aouda had recovered from her drugged state, surprised to be in the company of strangers, her rescuers. When told a relative of hers resided in Hong Kong, Fogg decided to convey her there.

A policeman arrived, ordering Fogg and Passepartout to accompany him. He escorted them to the office of a judge. Three Brahmin priests accused them, not of interfering with a suttee ceremony in Pillaji, as they thought, but of desecrating a temple in Bombay by wearing shoes inside (see my Day 18 entry).

The judge imposed a sentence of 300 pounds and 15 days imprisonment for Passepartout, and 150 pounds and 1 week in prison for Phileas Fogg. Watching from a hidden corner, Detective Fix rubbed his hands in delight since the warrant for Fogg’s arrest as a bank robber had not yet reached Calcutta, but would likely do so in that time.

Detective Fix might have wanted to accuse Phileas Fogg of theft, but you can get my new ebook, 80 Hours, for a steal at only $2.99. What are they thinking at Vivlio, Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Rakuten Kobo, Scribd, and Tolino anyway?

Back to Verne’s story. Unperturbed, Fogg stated his willingness to pay bail. Without batting an eye, he handed over 2000 pounds bail money and the judge released them both. Passepartout even got his shoes back. 

At the time of the story, Calcutta’s population had reached 633,000. Low-lying areas of the city had suffered terrible losses in the cyclones of 1864, 1867, and 1870. In 2022, Kolkata boasts a population over 7 times that number—4.5 million.

Today, if you travel from Allahabad to Kolkata, you don’t need a full day, as Fogg did. An airline flight takes as little as five or six hours, though you may have to stop in Raipur or Gorakhpur on the way.

For this blogpost series, you can’t fly. Like Fogg, you must board the steamer Rangoon. Fogg estimated the travel time to Hong Kong as ten to twelve days, so look for the next entry on November 4 (good weather) or 6 (bad weather).

Kindly watch your step on the gangway, along with Fogg, Passepartout, Aouda, Fix, and—

Poseidon’s Scribe

October 25, 2022Permalink

Eighty Days – Day 22

Thank you for joining me on my global blog tour. We’re following the route taken by Phileas Fogg in Jules Verne’s Around the World in Eighty Days, 150 years after its publication.

Since leaving Mumbai (called Bombay in those days) we’ve reached Allahabad. Much has happened since then, so let’s catch up with the action.

On the train, Fogg met Sir Francis Cromarty who, besides being countryman and a whist player, knew India well and became Fogg’s traveling companion. At 8:00 pm on October 21, the train stopped beyond Rothal near Kholby. (Don’t bother looking for place names on the map. I’ll explain later.) Track had not yet been laid down between there and Allahabad. Determined to forge ahead, Fogg bought an elephant and the services of a guide.

They rode the elephant past the village of Kallenger on the Cani River. Witnessing a procession of Brahmins, they found out a young princess named Aouda was to be put to death. Her husband, the rajah, died, and the practice of suttee (or sati) demanded her sacrifice, which would occur in the village of Pillaji.

Aghast, Fogg decided to try to save her, and it’s Passepartout who actually did. Along with Aouda, the group arrived in Allahabad. No longer 2 days ahead of schedule, he had then traveled 6835 miles, covering 27.8% of the distance in 27.5% of the time.

Verne had stayed true to geographical facts up to this point. However, as noted in Nicholas Whyte’s informative website, the villages of Rothal, Kholby, Kallenger, or Pillaji never existed. Nor is there a Cani River. It appears Verne made them up.

Why might he have done that? He must have had access to a route map of the Great Indian Peninsula Railway, which included accurate village and river names. However, he intended to describe specific places in negative terms (failure to complete railroad lines, practicing suttee), so may have made up fictional names for that area to avoid lawsuits.

By the way, suttee/sati was banned in British India since the 1840s, and has been illegal in modern India since 1987. However, some widows even in the last twenty years have voluntarily committed suicide on their husband’s funeral pyres.

At the time of the novel, Allahabad’s population numbered about 144,000. Today, it’s over 10 times that, 1.54 million. Modern travelers don’t need 4 days to get from Mumbai to Allahabad. Without elephants or princesses, you can take a 2-hour flight between those cities.

I, for one, am glad Aouda joined us on our trip now. It’s about time this journey included a woman. Speaking of that, a female protagonist stars in my new ebook, 80 Hours. You may purchase it at Tolino, Vivlio, Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Rakuten Kobo, and Scribd.

Our traveling party is cutting it close. We’re due in Kolkata tomorrow to make the steamer. Will we make it? That answer is known only to—

Poseidon’s Scribe

October 24, 2022Permalink

Eighty Days – Day 18

It’s time to continue our around-the-world blog tour. We’re following the route of Phileas Fogg, 150 years to the day after his famous fictional trip. The steamship Mongolia sailed from Suez and reached Mumbai (known in Verne’s time as Bombay) at 4:30 pm today, October 20.

Fogg had traversed 6004 miles, or 24.5% of the distance in only 22.5% of his allotted time. About 2 days ahead of schedule, he seemed in good shape to win his wager. In 3 ½ hours, he had to catch his train to Kolkata (then spelled Calcutta) leaving at 8:00 pm.

He sent Passepartout out to purchase shoes and shirts, while he walked to the passport office for official proof of his arrival. Meanwhile, Detective Fix headed to the ‘Bombay’ police hoping the warrant arrived for Fogg’s arrest. It hadn’t.

His shopping completed, Passepartout got distracted and curious, and wandered into a Hindu pagoda at Malabar Hill without taking his shoes off. He escaped three Brahmin priests who chased after him and he almost missed the train.

In the time of the novel, 644,000 people called Bombay home and Sir Philip Edmond Wodehouse served as the Crown Governor of the ‘Bombay Presidency’ when England ruled the various pieces of the subcontinent. Today, the population surpasses 20.4 million, the President of India is Droupadi Murmu, the Vice President, Jagdeep Dhankhar, and the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.

As for Malabar Hill, where Passepartout committed his sacrilegious act, that site contained several temples and some mansions for the wealthy at the time. Even more exclusive today, Malabar Hill counts among the top ten most expensive areas in the world.

Some of you may wonder when I’ll get to the novel’s balloon trip. I won’t, because there wasn’t one. Pressed for time, Fogg would never have considered a balloon. They move too slowly, and often in unintended directions. Every movie adapted from the novel features a balloon, but you won’t find one in the book. Read Five Weeks in a Balloon or The Mysterious Island if you want balloons from Verne.

Traveling from Suez to Mumbai today doesn’t require the 11 days Fogg needed. The drive to Cairo takes less than 2 hours and you can fly from there to Mumbai in about 9 hours, with a stop in either Muscat or Dubai.

That reduction in time from 11 days to 11 hours reminds me—you can grab my ebook, 80 Hours, at Scribd, Tolino, Vivlio, Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, and Rakuten Kobo. It’s a modern adaptation of Verne’s novel.

The train whistle just blew at the Mumbai railroad station. Better get aboard. The steamer will leave from Kolkata in five days and we can’t miss it. (There may be a plot development four days from now.) Who’s we, you ask? None other than Fogg, Passepartout, Detective Fix (who hopped aboard to follow Fogg), as well as you and—

Poseidon’s Scribe

October 20, 2022Permalink

Eighty Days – Day 7

Welcome back to my globe-trotting blog tour. We’re tracing the fictional path of Phileas Fogg as he raced Around the World in Eighty Days, 150 years later. On this date, at 11 am local time, Fogg and his servant reached the city of Suez aboard the steamship Mongolia.

The ship would stay there just four hours to refuel with coal and then cast off to steam toward Bombay. That furnished enough time for Fogg to obtain a visa from the British Consul. He didn’t need the visa to pass through Egypt, but wanted official evidence he’d reached Suez. He’d traveled 2522 miles since leaving London, about 10.3% of the planned distance, but only taken 8.8% of the allotted 80 days.

For Verne’s plot, the refueling stop allowed Detective Fix to see Fogg for the first time, to gain valuable information from Passepartout about Fogg’s intentions, and to firm up his suspicions about Fogg robbing the Bank of England.

Ferdinand de Lesseps

Suez sits at the junction of Africa and Asia, near the southern end of the then-new Suez Canal, completed in 1869. Verne seemed proud of the accomplishment of his countryman, Ferdinand de Lesseps, who masterminded the construction of the canal. Lesseps also gets a mention in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas.

In 1872, Egypt existed as an Ottoman province, known as the Khedivate of Egypt. Isma’il Pasha ruled as the Khedive.

Much has changed in 150 years. They widened the canal to double its capacity. It’s endured wars, the planting and removal of mines, and blockage by a ship running aground.

Long past being a Khedivate, Egypt became a republic with a president, currently Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, and a prime minister, currently Moustafa Madbouly.

Today’s traveler needs far less than 4 days to transit from Brindisi to Suez. You can ride by car to Bari, take a flight to Cairo via Istanbul, then hop a bus to Suez, all in 11 ½ hours.

I’ve been pushing my new book, 80 Hours. However, that’s not the only Verne-related piece I’ve written or been associated with. My story “The Steam Elephant” in The Gallery of Curiosities #3 forms an African sequel to Verne’s The Steam House. Think of “A Tale More True” as a clockwork version of Verne’s From the Earth to the Moon. “Rallying Cry” celebrates two Verne novels—The Steam House and Clipper of the Clouds. “The Cometeers” follows From the Earth to the Moon as a sort of sequel. I co-edited the anthology 20,000 Leagues Remembered, with its obvious Verne connection. I also co-edited an upcoming anthology by the North American Jules Verne Society called Extraordinary Visions: Stories Inspired by Jules Verne. Look for news about that here.

If all goes well on our steamship ride, we should reach Bombay (now Mumbai) on October 20, the next entry in this blog trip. Detective Fix may embark aboard the Mongolia as well, along with Fogg, Passepartout, you, and—

Poseidon’s Scribe

October 9, 2022Permalink

Eighty Days – Day 3

We’re continuing our blog-trip Around the World in Eighty Days, 150 years after its publication. Today, we’re in Brindisi after riding with Phileas Fogg and Passepartout by train from Turin.

We’ve covered 1420 miles to this point, already 5.8% of the total planned distance. Yet only 3.8% of our 80 days have elapsed. All looks well.

As with the earlier cities on the tour, Verne neglected to describe Brindisi. Perhaps he could count on his French readers being familiar with it. 

Brindisi sits at the high heel of the Italian boot, near the joining of the Adriatic Sea with the Mediterranean. In 1872, 13,800 people lived there. Only two years before, the Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P&O) added Brindisi to its route, coinciding with the opening of the Brindisi Marittima railway station.

After leaving the train station, Fogg and his servant would have taken a carriage to the port to board the steamship Mongolia. That ship would take them through the Suez Canal to Bombay (now Mumbai). No fictional creation of Verne, the Mongolia existed. Built in 1865, it displaced almost 3000 tons and, according to Verne, its engines produced 500 horsepower.

The Mongolia got scrapped in 1888, but P&O later built two more ships by that name.

If you visit Brindisi now, you’ll find it’s home to 87,000 people. That Brindisi Marittima railway station closed in 2006, replaced by a car park.

Brindisi Harbor

Getting from Turin to Brindisi today doesn’t require a train ride of 32 hours and 40 minutes, like Fogg had to endure. Just hop a 3 ½ hour flight, which includes a 1-hour layover in Rome.

If you’re wondering what it would be like to fly around the world today, stopping at the major cities of Phileas Fogg’s route, I recommend the book 80 Hours. It’s sold at Rakuten Kobo, Scribd, Tolino, Vivlio, Amazon, Apple Books, and Barnes & Noble.

The voyage to Suez will take four days, so look for the next post in this series on October 9. They’re about to remove the gangway on the Mongolia. Fogg and Passepartout are already aboard, waiting for you and—

Poseidon’s Scribe

October 5, 2022Permalink