CHAPTER 1 A Runaway Reef 

第一 飞走的暗礁

THE YEAR 1866 was marked by a bizarre development, an unexplained and downrightinexplicable phenomenon that surely no one has forgotten.

人们一定还记得1866年海上发生的一件离奇的、神秘的、无法解释的怪事。

Without getting into those rumors that upset civilians in the seaports andderanged the public mind even far inland,

且不说当时哄动沿海居民和世界舆论的各种传闻，

it must be said that professional seamen were especially alarmed.

这里只说一般航海人员特别激动的心情。

Traders, shipowners, captains of vessels, skippers, and master mariners from Europe and America, naval officers from every country, and at their heels the various national governments on these two continents, were all extremely disturbed by the business.

欧美的进出口商人、船长和船主、各国的海军官佐以及这两大洲的各国政府都非常注意这件事。

In essence, over a period of time several ships had encountered "an enormous thing" at sea, a long spindle-shaped object, sometimes giving off a phosphorescent glow, infinitely bigger and faster than any whale.

这事大体是这样：不久以前，好些大船在海上碰见了一一个“庞然大物”，一个很长的物体，形状很像纺锤，有时发出磷光，它的体积比鲸鱼大得多，行动起来也比鲸鱼快得多。

The relevant data on this apparition, as recorded in various logbooks, agreed pretty closely as to the structure of the object or creature in question, its unprecedented speed of movement, its startling locomotive power, and the unique vitality with which it seemed to be gifted.

关于这个东西的出现，许多航海日志所记下的事实，大致是相同的。如果这东西是鲸鱼类动物，那么它的体积：是大大超过了生物学家曾经加以分类的鲸鱼。

If it was a cetacean, it exceeded in bulk any whale previously classified by science. 如果这东西是鲸鱼类动物，那么它的体积：是大大超过了生物学家曾经加以分类的鲸鱼。

No naturalist, neither Cuvier nor Lacépède, neither Professor Dumeril nor Professor de Quatrefages, would have accepted the existence of such a monster sight unseen-- specifically, unseen by their own scientific eyes.

居维埃拉色别德、杜梅里、卡特法日，这些生物学家一一除非看见过，也就是说，除非这些科学家本人的眼睛看见过—是不承认有这样一种怪物存在的。

Striking an average of observations taken at different times-rejecting those timid estimates that gave the object a length of 200 feet,

把多次观察的结果折中一下来看———方面丢开那些过低的估计，即这个东西只有二百英尺长，

and ignoring those exaggerated views that saw it as a mile wide and three long

同时也不接受过于夸张的言论，即它有一英里。宽三英里长。

you could still assert that this phenomenal creature greatly exceeded the dimensions of anything then known to ichthyologists, if it existed at all.

我们可以肯定他说，这个奇怪的生物，如果真是存在的话，它的体积是大大超过鱼类学家所承认的体积的。

Now then, it did exist, this was an undeniable fact; and since the human mind dotes on objects of wonder,

这东西既然存在，而事实本身又是不可否认的，那么，由于人类好奇的心理，

you can understand the worldwide excitement caused by this unearthly apparition. As forrelegating it to the realm of fiction, that charge had to be dropped.

我们就不难理解这个怪物的出现会在全世界引起怎样的骚动。至于说这是荒唐无稽之谈，那是决不会有人同意的。

In essence, on July 20, 1866, the steamer Governor Higginson, from the Calcutta & Burnach Steam Navigation Co., encountered this moving mass five miles off the eastern shores of Australia.

因为，1866年7月20日，加尔各答一布纳希汽船公司的喜金孙总督号，在澳大利亚海岸东边五英里，碰见了这个游动的巨大物体。

Captain Baker at first thought he was in the presence of an unknown reef; he was even about to fix its exact position when two waterspouts shot out of this inexplicable object and sprang hissing into the air some 150 feet.

巴克船长起初还以为这是没有人知道的、暗礁，他正要测定它的位置的时候，突然这个不可解释的物体喷出两道水柱，哗的一声射到空中一百五十英尺高。

So, unless this reef was subject to the intermittent eruptions of a geyser, the Governor Higginson had fair and honest dealings with some aquatic mammal, until then unknown, that could spurt from its blowholes waterspouts mixed with air and steam.

这么说，除非这座暗礁上边有间歇喷泉，不然的话，喜金孙总督号面前的东西，就是还没有人知道的一种海中哺乳类动物，它还从鼻孔中喷出有气泡的水柱呢。

Similar events were likewise observed in Pacific seas, on July 23 of the same year, by the Christopher Columbus from the West India & Pacific Steam Navigation Co. 同年7月23日，西印度-太平洋汽船公司的克利斯托巴尔哥郎号，在太平洋上也碰到这样的事。

Consequently, this extraordinary cetacean could transfer itself from one locality to another with startling swiftness,

喜金孙总督号看见这怪物以后三天，克利斯托巴尔哥郎号在相距七百里的地方也看见了它，

since within an interval of just three days, the Governor Higginson and the Christopher Columbus had observed it at two positions on the charts separated by a distance of more than 700 nautical leagues.

由此可知，这个奇特的鲸鱼类动物能以掠人的速度从这一处转移到另一处。

Fifteen days later and 2,000 leagues farther,

十五天以后，在离上面说的地点有两千里远的地方，

the Helvetia from the Compagnie Nationale and the Shannon from the Royal Mail line,

国营轮船公司的海尔维地亚号和皇家邮船公司的山农号，

running on opposite tacks in that part of the Atlantic lying between the United States and Europe,

在美国和欧洲之间的大西洋海面上相遇的时候，

respectively signaled each other that the monster had been sighted in latitude 42 degrees 15' north and longitude 60 degrees 35' west of the meridian of Greenwich.

在北纬42度15分、西经60度35分的地方，同时看到了这个大怪物。

From their simultaneous observations, they were able to estimate the mammal's minimum length at more than 350 English feet;

根据两船同时观察得到的结果，估计这只哺乳动物的长度至少有三百五十多英尺，

this was because both the Shannon and the Helvetia were of smaller dimensions, although each measured 100 meters stem to stern.

因为山农号和海尔维地亚号两船连起来，都还比它短，两船从头至尾只有一百米长。

Now then, the biggest whales, those rorqual whales that frequent the waterways of the Aleutian Islands,

可是，最长的鲸鱼，像常常出役于阿留申群岛的久阑马克岛和翁居里克岛附近海面的那些鲸鱼，

have never exceeded a length of 56 meters-if they reach even that

也只不过是五十六米，而比这再长的，从来就没有过。

One after another, reports arrived that would profoundly affect public opinion: new observations taken by the transatlantic liner Pereire, 接连不断地传来的消息，横渡大西洋的贝雷尔号所做的种种观察，

the Inman line's Etna running afoul of the monster, an official report drawn up by officers on the French frigate Normandy,

茵曼轮船公司的越提那号跟这个怪物的一次相碰，法国二级军舰诺曼第号军官们所写的记录，

dead-earnest reckonings obtained by the general staff of Commodore Fitz-James aboard the Lord Clyde.

海军高级参谋弗兹一詹姆斯在克利德爵士号上所做的很精密的测算，这一切在当时的确曾经哄动一时。

In lighthearted countries, people joked about this phenomenon, but such serious, practical countries as England, America, and Germany were deeply concerned.

在民族性比较浮躁的国家里，大家都拿这件事作为谈笑资料，但在严肃和踏实的国家里，像英国、美国和德国就不同，它们对这事就非常关心。

In every big city the monster was the latest rage; they sang about it in the coffee houses, they ridiculed it in the newspapers,

在各大城市里，这怪物变成了家喻户晓的事件。咖啡馆里歌唱它，报刊上嘲笑它，

they dramatized it in the theaters. The tabloids found it a fine opportunity for hatching all sorts of hoaxes.

舞台上扮演它。谣言正好有了机会，从这怪物身上捏造出各种各样的奇闻。

In those newspapers short of copy, you saw the reappearance of every gigantic imaginary creature, from "Moby Dick,"

在一些发行量不多的报刊上，出现了关于各种离奇的巨大动物的报道，从白鲸、北极海中可怕的莫比·狄克,

that dreadful white whale from the High Arctic regions, to the stupendous kraken whosetentacles could entwine a 500-ton craft and drag it into the ocean depths.

一直到庞大的克拉肯这种怪鱼的触须可以缠住一只载重五百吨的船而把它拖到海底下去都应有尽有。

They even reprinted reports from ancient times: the views of Aristotle and Pliny accepting the existence of such monsters,

有些人甚至不惜引经据典，或者搬出古代的传说如亚里士多德和蒲林尼的见解：

then the Norwegian stories of Bishop Pontoppidan, the narratives of Paul Egede, and finally the reports of Captain Harrington whose good faith is above suspicion

或者搬出彭土皮丹主教的挪威童话，保罗·埃纪德的记述，以及哈林顿的报告;这报告是不容怀疑的，

in which he claims he saw, while aboard the Castilian in 1857,

他说，1857年，他在嘉斯第兰号上看见过一种大蛇，

one of those enormous serpents that, until then, had frequented only the seas of France's old extremist newspaper, The Constitutionalist.

那种蛇以前只在那立宪号到过的海面上才能看见。