''In Search of the Castaways'' (french: Les Enfants du capitaine Grant, lit=The Children of Captain Grant) is a novel by the French writer Jules Verne, published in 1867–68. The original edition, published by Hetzel, contains a number of illustrations by Édouard Riou. 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''.

Plot summary

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 over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or are ...

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 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 the south pole to 90° at the north pol ...

(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 the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

, Southern Tip of Australia, at some times

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

and even the Northern Most 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, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...

(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 sailing or power vessel used 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 , as opposed to a , such a pleasu ...

, 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 relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

. 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 () refers to a geographical region that encompasses the southern end of South America, governed by Argentina and Chile. The region comprises the southern section of the Andes Mountains with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and g ...

, Tristan da Cunha Island,

Amsterdam Island Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban area ...

, 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 practice

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 other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

. 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 (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

, 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 ''The Mysterious Island'' (french: L'Île mystérieuse) is a novel by Jules Verne, published in 1875. The original edition, published by Hetzel, contains a number of illustrations by Jules Férat. The novel is a crossover sequel to Verne's f ...

'', 1874).

Adaptations

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

Manuel Fernández Caballero Manuel Fernández Caballero (Murcia, 14 March 1835 – Madrid, 26 February 1906) was a Spanish composer, notably of zarzuelas. His works were seminal works in the young Género chico form of zarzuela. The success of ''Los bandos de villafr ...

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 Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

, directed by Vladimir Vajnshtok 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 ''In Search of the Castaways'' (french: Les Enfants du capitaine Grant, lit=The Children of Captain Grant) is a novel by the French writer Jules Verne, published in 1867–68. The original edition, published by Hetzel, contains a number of ill ...

'', United States, a film directed by Robert Stevenson and starring Maurice Chevalier, Hayley Mills, 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 chara ...

. 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 (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

and the

, a TV miniseries directed by

Stanislav Govorukhin Stanislav Sergeyevich Govorukhin (russian: Станислав Сергеевич Говорухин; 29 March 1936 – 14 June 2018) was a Soviet and Russian film director, actor, screenwriter, producer and politician. He was named People's Artis ...

and starring Nikolai Yeryomenko, Jr., Lembit Ulfsak, Aleksandr Abdulov, Kosta Tsonev, and Anya Pencheva.See .

Maps

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

, Australia 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 Castaways in fiction French novels adapted into films Novels adapted into operas French novels adapted into television shows Novels by Jules Verne Novels set in Australia Novels set in New Zealand Novels set in South America Novels set on ships