''In Search of the Castaways'' () is a novel by the French writer

Jules Verne Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraor ...

, published in 1867–68. The original edition, published by Hetzel, contains illustrations by

Édouard Riou Édouard Riou (; 2 December 1833 – 27 January 1900) was a French illustrator who illustrated six novels by Jules Verne, as well as several other well-known works. Life Riou was born in 1833 in Saint-Servan, Ille-et-Vilaine, and studied und ...

. In 1876, it was republished by George Routledge & Sons as a three volume set titled ''A Voyage Round The World''. The three volumes were subtitled ''South America'', ''Australia'', and ''New Zealand''. As often with Verne, English translations have appeared under different names; another edition has the overall title ''Captain Grant's Children'' and has two volumes subtitled ''The Mysterious Document'' and ''Among the Cannibals''. The modern unabridged English translation is done by Don Sample.

Synopsis

The book tells the story of the quest for Captain Grant of the ''Britannia''. After finding a bottle the captain had cast into the ocean after the ''Britannia'' is shipwrecked,

Lord Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power (social and political), power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the Peerage o ...

and Lady Glenarvan of Scotland contact Mary and Robert, the young daughter and son of Captain Grant, through an announcement in a newspaper. The government refuses to launch a rescue expedition, but Lord and Lady Glenarvan, moved by the children's condition, decide to do it by themselves. The main difficulty is that the coordinates of the wreckage are mostly erased, and only the

latitude In geography, latitude is a geographic coordinate system, geographic coordinate that specifies the north-south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from −90° at t ...

(37 degrees) is known; thus, the expedition would have to circumnavigate the 37th parallel south. The bottle was retrieved from a shark's stomach, so it is impossible to trace its origin by the currents. Remaining clues consist of a few words in three languages. They are re-interpreted several times throughout the novel to make various destinations seem likely like

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

, Southern Tip of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, at some times

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

and even the northernmost part of

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

(to which they never sailed). Lord Glenarvan makes it his quest to find Grant; together with his wife, Grant's children and the crew of his

yacht A yacht () is a sail- or marine propulsion, motor-propelled watercraft made for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a ...

, the ''Duncan'', they set off for

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

. An unexpected passenger in the form of French geographer Jacques Paganel (he missed his steamer to India by accidentally boarding the ''Duncan'') joins the search. They explore

Patagonia Patagonia () is a geographical region that includes parts of Argentina and Chile at the southern end of South America. The region includes the southern section of the Andes mountain chain with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and glaciers ...

, Tristan da Cunha Island, Amsterdam Island, and Australia (a pretext to describe the flora, fauna, and geography of numerous places to the audience). There, they find a former quartermaster of the ''Britannia'', Ayrton, who proposes to lead them to the site of the wreckage. However, Ayrton is a traitor, who was not present during the loss of the ''Britannia'', but was abandoned in Australia after a failed attempt to seize control of the ship to practise

piracy Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and valuable goods, or taking hostages. Those who conduct acts of piracy are call ...

. He tries to take control of the ''Duncan'', but by sheer luck, this attempt also fails. However the Glenarvans, the Grant children, Paganel and some sailors are left in Australia, and mistakenly believing that the ''Duncan'' is lost, they sail to

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

, New Zealand, from where they want to come back to Europe. When their ship is wrecked south of Auckland on the New Zealand coast, they are captured by a Māori tribe, but luckily manage to escape and board a ship that they discover, to their astonishment, to be the ''Duncan''. Ayrton, made a prisoner, offers to trade his knowledge of Captain Grant in exchange for being abandoned on a desert island instead of being surrendered to the British authorities. The ''Duncan'' sets sail for Tabor Island, which, by sheer luck, turns out to be Captain Grant's shelter. They leave Ayrton in his place to live among the beasts and regain his humanity. Ayrton reappears in Verne's later novel, ''L'Île mystérieuse'' ('' The Mysterious Island'', 1874).

Titles and translations

The title of the orginal French edition, published by Hetzel in 1865, is «Les enfants du captaine Grant». The work is in three parts (or volumes, depending on publisher), with a total of 70 chapters. The parts in French editions do not have individual titles. English translations have appeared under a number of different titles, including: *, published by J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1874 (60 chapters). *, published by Ward, Lock & Co., 1876. In three volumes, with titles ''The Mysterious Document'', ''On the Track'', and ''Among the Cannibals''. Abridged version in two volumes (ARCO, ed. I.O.Evans, 1964) *, published by

Routledge Routledge ( ) is a British multinational corporation, multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, academic journals, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanit ...

, 1876–77 in three volumes ''South America'', ''Australia'' and ''New Zealand'' (70 chapters). Evans considers this to be the best of the 19th century translations. *, published in "The Works of Jules Verne", ed. Charles F. Horne in 1911. This is not an original translation, but a heavily abridged version of the Routledge translation (66 chapters). This version circulates widely on the internet, and is often used by modern publishers.
The Children of Captain Grant
A Journey Around the World In Search of The Castaways. Modern translation by Don Sample; claims to be more faithful to Verne's original work (70 chapters). The work has been translated into other languages including Czech, Polish, Russian and Swedish. Details can be found in wikidata .

Adaptations

* 1877: '' Los sobrinos del capitán Grant'' ("Captain Grant's nephew and niece"), a three-act, spectacular Spanish

zarzuela () is a Spanish lyric-dramatic genre that alternates between spoken and sung scenes, the latter incorporating operatic and popular songs, as well as dance. The etymology of the name is uncertain, but some propose it may derive from the name o ...

by Manuel Fernández Caballero to a text by Miguel Ramos Carrión. *1914: ''Les enfants du capitaine Grant'', a French silent film and the last film

Victorin-Hippolyte Jasset Victorin-Hippolyte Jasset (30 March 1862 - 22 June 1913) was an early film pioneer in France, active between the years 1905 and 1913. He worked on many genres of film and was particularly associated with the development of detective or crime Seri ...

worked on before his untimely death. * 1936: '' The Children of Captain Grant'' (''Дети капитана Гранта'', ''Deti kapitana Granta''),

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, directed by

Vladimir Vajnshtok Vladimir Petrovich Vajnshtok (; 2 March 1908 – 18 October 1978) was a Soviet film director and, under the name Vladimir Vladimirov, screenwriter. Selected filmography Director * ''Rubicon (Рубикон)'' (1931) * ''Storm (Ураган) ...

and starring Nikolai Cherkasov, film score composed by Isaak Dunayevsky. The film was released in the United States as ''Captain Grant's Children''. (see ). * 1962: '' In Search of the Castaways'', United States, a film directed by Robert Stevenson and starring

Maurice Chevalier Maurice Auguste Chevalier (; 12 September 1888 – 1 January 1972) was a French singer, actor, and entertainer. He is best known for his signature songs, including " Livin' In The Sunlight", " Valentine", " Louise", " Mimi", and " Thank Heaven f ...

Hayley Mills Hayley Catherine Rose Vivien Mills (born 18 April 1946) is an English actress. The daughter of Sir John Mills and Mary Hayley Bell and younger sister of actress Juliet Mills, she began her acting career as a child and was hailed as a promisi ...

, and

George Sanders George Henry Sanders (3 July 1906 – 25 April 1972) was a British actor and singer whose career spanned over 40 years. His heavy, upper-class English accent and smooth bass voice often led him to be cast as sophisticated but villainous charac ...

. Songs by the Sherman Brothers were: "Castaway", "Enjoy It!", "Let's Climb", "Merci Beaucoup". (see ). * 1985: '' In Search of Captain Grant'' (''В поисках капитана Гранта'', ''V poiskakh kapitana Granta'', ''Децата на капитан Грант''),

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

and the

, a TV miniseries directed by

Stanislav Govorukhin Stanislav Sergeyevich Govorukhin (; 29 March 1936 – 14 June 2018) was a Soviet Union, Soviet and Russians, Russian film director, actor, screenwriter, producer and politician. He was named People's Artist of Russia in 2006. His movies often fe ...

and starring Nikolai Yeryomenko, Jr.,

Lembit Ulfsak Lembit Ulfsak (4 July 1947 – 22 March 2017) was an Estonian stage and film actor. Ulfsak starred in the 2014 film Tangerines (film), ''Tangerines'' which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, Best Foreign Language F ...

, Aleksandr Abdulov, Kosta Tsonev, and Anya Pencheva.See .

Maps

3 Maps Showing ''The Duncan's'' crew's search in

and

References

External links

* * * *
177 illustrations by Édouard Riou
from ''Les Enfants du capitaine Grant'' (1865–66) {{DEFAULTSORT:In Search Of The Castaways 1868 French novels French adventure novels Novels set in Australia Novels set in New Zealand Novels set in South America Novels set on ships Fiction about castaways French novels adapted into films Adventure novels adapted into films French novels adapted into television shows French novels adapted into operas Novels by Jules Verne