Orienteering to the extreme
In 1831, a wealthy Egyptian named Kamylk-Pasha, persecuted by a greedy relative aiming to steal his fortune, fleas his homeland with his riches. He buries his treasure, consisting of three barrels full of diamonds and other gems, on an uncharted island. Flash forward thirty years later: Pierre Servan Malo Antifer, a retired sea captain, resides in the city of Saint-Malo on the northern coast of Brittany. His prized possession is a document bequeathed to him by his father. Many years prior, during the Napoleonic wars, Antifer’s father saved the life of Kamylk-Pasha. In gratitude, Kamylk-Pasha decides to leave his fortune to his rescuer. He gives the senior Antifer a document in which he has written the latitude of the island where his treasure lies buried, with the promise that the longitude will be conveyed to him at a future date. When Captain Antifer’s father dies, this document, and the fortune it promises, is passed down to the son. Captain Antifer waits twenty years before an Egyptian notary finally shows up with the longitude. The two coordinates, now united, show that the uncharted island lies in the Gulf of Oman. Accompanied by his nephew Juhel and his best friend Gildas Tregomain, Captain Antifer sets out to find the island and collect his treasure. The Egyptian notary, Ben Omar is also required to make the voyage, to oversee the uncovering of the inheritance and to collect his commission. He brings along his clerk Nazim, a man who is not who he seems and who hopes to steal the treasure for himself.
Although Verne is known these days for his science fiction, this novel is not science fiction but rather geography fiction. One can imagine Verne poring over an atlas as he penned the narrative. The prose often reads like a succession of place names read off of a map. Antifer and company travel from one city to another by boat, train, or horse-drawn coach, throughout the Middle East and North Africa. Verne seems more concerned with the logistics of the journey rather than the places visited. Because of the rapid traveling pace, the reader doesn’t really learn a whole lot about the lands through which Antifer and his friends pass.
The characters are quite likeable, however, which keeps the story engaging. Antifer is a gruff and surly old adventurer who calls to mind Arthur Conan Doyle’s Professor Challenger. His pal Tregomain is a big, gentle giant and sometimes comic buffoon. Together they give off a kind of Abbott and Costello vibe. Also, as in many a Verne novel, the cast features a pair of young lovers hoping to be married. In this case, it’s Antifer’s niece and nephew, Enogate and Juhel (cousins to each other). All of the globe-hopping travel arrangements in the story tend to get a little monotonous and frustrating, but the clever ending makes up for it. The plot of this novel is very craftily conceived and thoughtfully constructed. And, since Verne’s Voyages Extraordinaires were kind of the 19th-century precursor to Atlas Obscura, you end up learning a few fascinating facts about the world as well. Outside of his big hits like Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and Around the World in Eighty Days, many of Verne’s adventure novels have faded into obscurity. Captain Antifer, however, shows once again that it’s worth digging deeper into Verne’s catalog, as such an endeavor sometimes turns up hidden gems.
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