20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

After a mysterious sea monster damages an ocean liner, the US government assembles a team in New York City to track down the creature and destroy it. French marine biologist Pierre Aronnax receives a last-minute invitation, as does Canadian harpoonist Ned Land. They leave aboard the Abraham Lincoln, bound for Cape Horn and then the Pacific Ocean.
But all is not as it seems. When they find the monster and attack, the Abraham Lincoln is damaged, and Aronnax and Land end up thrown onto the monster's hide. Where they expect to find flesh, there is metal. The monster they have been hunting is in fact a submarine called the Nautilus, captained by a mysterious renegade named Nemo. Aronnax and Land are swiftly taken captive aboard the impossible vessel, which then dives deep beneath the waves.
So begins the adventure of a lifetime for Aronnax and Land, as Nemo refuses to ever let them leave for fear that they will reveal the truth about the Nautilus. And all too soon, Aronnax and Land discover the submarine's purpose: Nemo is on a mission to seek out scientific knowledge and wreak revenge on the civilization that destroyed his family. It is during the pursuit of this mission that the Nautilus explores shipwrecks, hunts sharks, visits the real Atlantis, and ventures to the deepest, darkest reaches of the oceans.

Often labeled the "father of science fiction," Jules Verne was less concerned with the gadgets of science than with its effect of people. His fantasies explored the possibilities in a way that excited the imaginations of generations of readers and paved the way for the host of writers that followed in his footsteps.