Author's Note: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
My free interpretation of one of the most memorable moments in the history of Jules Verne:
... in the depths of the ocean, the Nautilus, Captain Nemo's submarine
built in the shape of a fish, is attacked by a giant cephalopod ...
The creativity and imagination can produce very different interpretations.
Many people think that the Nautilus sailed into deep water.
The greatest depth mentioned in the book is just four leagues.
(20,000 leagues is equivalent to 2.4 times the circumference of the Earth).
The title refers to the distance traveled on the seafloor and not deep.
The literal translation of the French title would end in the plural "seas", implying "seven seas"
through which the characters travelled. However, the early English translations of the title used "sea",
ie the sea, in general, as in "going offshore" ...
THE DRAFT AND SOME SOURCES