20 000 leagues under the sea (book)

Last modified: 2006-01-21 by marc pasquin
Keywords: book | 20 000 leagues under the sea | 20 000 lieues sous les mers | nemo |
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• Capitaine Nemo

• Fictional Flags in books
• Fictional Flags

reconstruction by Eugene Ipavec.	reconstruction by Eugene Ipavec.	reconstruction by Eugene Ipavec.	reconstruction by "Ant".	reconstruction by António Martins-Tuválkin.
Based on the written description	Based on a contemporary illustration.	Different interpretation of the previous source	Based on the written description	Based on this illustration

The flag flown by Captain Nemo in the book "20 000 lieues sous les mers" (Jules Verne) is described thusly: "...Captain Nemo unfurled a black banner, bearing an N in gold embroidered on its quartered bunting."
Ron Miller , 10 april 2002

In honor of the book (I actually wore out a copy when I was 8), here is an image, though the description is a tad unclear--quartered how, crosswise or diagonally? With what? And where's the N supposed to go--the center or in one of the quadrants? The lack of detail provided may mean that the flag cannot be reconstructed.
Eugene Ipavec , 10 may 2005

In honor of the book (I actually wore out a copy when I was 8), here is an image, though the description is a tad unclear--quartered how, crosswise or diagonally? With what? And where's the N supposed to go--the center or in one of the quadrants? The lack of detail provided may mean that the flag cannot be reconstructed.
Eugene Ipavec , 10 may 2005

here is a contemporary illustration from an early edition of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. The picture is smallish, but can be mostly made out: a black flag, no visible quartering, a smallish 'N'--eerily similar to the font I chose at random, by the way--and above it, something. I also note that the flag in the illustration seems narrower than 2:3.

Not quite in keeping with the book's description, but it does have seniority...
Eugene Ipavec , 14 may 2005

Examining the high-resolution enlargement of the engraving, it looks to me like a sketchy sort of escutcheon above the "N". One has to wonder if the idea wasn't suggested to Verne and the illustrator by Napoleon Bonaparte's familir cipher. That "N" appear on French military guidons and flags of the period, although with Nap's characteristic wreath in virtually every example I found in Wise & Rosignoli's "Flags of the Napoleonic Wars" (London: 1978, Osprey).
William Dunning, 14 may 2005

I could be mistaken but I think the thing could be some form of anchor. would make sense.
Marc Pasquin, 14 may 2005

I'll go along with the anchor interpretation. The engraving is simply not detailed enough to make it clear, but the wider part at the top of the enlargement makes it quite probable that Marc is right. Since the capitaine is not here to explain, I think that's where we'll have to leave it.
William Dunning, 15 may 2005

It looks a bit like a quartered CoA shield OSLT... The whole thing looks quite napoleonic, by the way... :-\

The book *text*, in my own opinion, does have seniority over any depiction, even one from the original editition (unless the illustrator were Jules Verne himself, which is not the case, though.)
António Martins-Tuválkin, 15 may 2005

It looks far more like an escutcheon if you open up the large version of the file.
James Dignan, 16 may 2005

Something against the presence of a coat of arm is that "Nemo" had relinquished his princely title and become an anonymous rover of the seas. In the book, a related personal mark (the words MOBILIS IN MOBILE surrounding a letter 'N') does not contain anything else which might indicate noble descent.

I remember some engravings from the original edition (faithfully reproduced in various other-language reprints) showing the 'N' very clearly - but nothing else.

Note: the 'N' in said engravings is rather thin! (But I haven't been able to find such image on the web.)
Jan Mertens, 16 may 2005

Actually, it does look like an escutcheon. I should have taken a look at the 400 kb version first. There seems to be a shield with a squarish shape inside, and an arch or cap-like thing above it all.
Eugene Ipavec , 16 may 2005

I don't say it's not in the image but there shouldn't be one! Nemo is 'nobody' [ed. note: thats the meaning of his name], someone who has renounced his ties to any nation or title: Verne is clear on this.

Another line of pursuit is to look up the original 'authorized' engravings - only showing the 'N', I'm sure.
Jan Mertens , 18 may 2005

If you look at this image taken from this page, The 'N' is shifted towards the canton. And the flag reference is at the end of this chapter (no. 14 of part II):

"So saying, Captain Nemo unfurled a black flag bearing a gold "N" on its quartered bunting."

"Et ce disant, le capitaine Nemo déploya un pavillon noir, portant un N d'or écartéle sur son étamine."

I'd agree with having the "N" in the upper fly. I think Verne may have been confusing "écartéle" (old Fr. "escartelé" or "esquartelé"), "quarterly", with (old Fr.) "ou quartier", meaning "on the canton" or "in the dexter chief".

You could render this without using an "N" glyph, but with two pales and a bend, as I did here.
"Ant" , 19 may 2005

On the other hand, he could have meant it in the sense of "stretched to occupy most of the space".
Marc Pasquin , 19 may 2005

Is that a meaning of "écartéle"? It's certainly not a meaning of "quarterly"!
"Ant" , 20 may 2005

Ethymologicaly, écarteler means "torn into four part" and as such was the french word used for the sentence known in english as "drawn and quartered" and the blason term for a field cut into four parts. By analogy, it came also to mean stretch by all (four) sides.

Like a discussion made about Tolkien, it is possible that Jules verne was either being poetic or didn't know much about heraldry in the first place.
Marc Pasquin , 20 may 2005

Jules Verne having confused "écartéle" with "au quartier" is a very plausible hypothesis. In old French, "esquarterer" means to divide into quarters; the modern sense of "écarteler" is to divide into four ("quatre") parts, that is "to quarter". Heraldry and torture use the same word, either in French or English.

In French heraldry, a "quartier" is one of the four parts of a quartered shield, or one of the parts of a shield divided in more than four pieces. When the quarter covers one fourth of the shield or is placed in an angle, it is called "franc-quartier". "franc" means here free and not Frankish.
Ivan Sache , 20 may 2005