Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea: Part 2, Chapter 5 Summary & Analysis

That evening, the Nautilus passes the Saudi Arabian port city of Jeddah, and Arronax gazes at its buildings. The next day, he is standing with Ned on the platform when Ned points out a “blurry mass” in the distance, which they soon realize is a “gigantic dugong.” Ned is dazzled, looking almost as if he wants to throw himself into the water with the animal. Nemo appears, and gives Ned permission to harpoon the dugong, but warns that he should be careful not to miss. Sailors appear with a harpoon; Ned, Conseil, and Arronax climb in a boat along with six oarsmen and a boatswain, but Nemo stays behind.

The boat approaches the enormous animal, stopping at a distance of about six yards. Ned aims, but—though the harpoons strikes the dugong—the animal is only wounded, not killed. Ned continues his attack, but the dugong repeatedly evades him. After an hour of these attempts, the dugong turns around and attacks the boat. However, Ned is then finally able to strike the animal’s heart, and within moments it is dead. When they bring the dugong’s body to the submarine, they find that it weighs 10,000 pounds. Later, the Nautilus pass what appears to be a lighthouse; Nemo explains that it is “the floating light of Suez,” before politely requesting that Arronax leave the deck of the vessel in anticipation of their journey through the Arabian Tunnel.

Arronax accompanies Nemo into the pilot’s cage, where Nemo soon takes the helm. They approach the tunnel entrance, which to Arronax resembles “the mouth of hell.” The submarine is immediately caught in the torrent and zooms through the water. Within 20 minutes, they arrive in the Mediterranean.