Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (novel)

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea is a science-fiction novel written by Theodore Sturgeon and first published in 1961 by Pyramid Books. Sturgeon wrote the novel from the screenplay that Irwin Allen and Charles Bennett wrote from an original story written by Irwin Allen. The movie also inspired a television series that ran for four years on ABC.

Plot

Under the command of Captain Lee Crane and with Admiral Harriman Nelson, Vice-Admiral B. J. Crawford, Congressman Llewellyn Parker, and psychologist Susan Hiller aboard, the nuclear-powered submarine USOS. Seaview goes under the Arctic ice for a shakedown cruise. Partway through the cruise the crew find that the ice is melting and when Seaview surfaces they see that the sky appears to be on fire. Radio communication is extremely difficult, but they get a request to come to New York, where the UN is holding a meeting of top scientists. After rescuing a man, Alvarez, from an ice floe, they head south.

With help from Vice-Admiral Crawford, Admiral Nelson collates observations and carries out calculations whose answers tell him what he needs to do. He determines that the inner Van Allen radiation belt has caught fire, pulling air up from the overheating atmosphere. To stop the fire, to save all life on Earth, Seaview must launch a missile at a precise moment from a point NW of Guam and have the missile spew electrically-charged lampblack into the outer radiation belt. But first the admiral must attend the meeting in New York.

At the United Nations the world-renowned scientist, Dr. Emilio Zucco, insists that the fire will simply burn itself out and should be left alone. Nelson disagrees, but there’s no time to argue and recalculate the figures. While Congressman Parker distracts the audience, Nelson and his crew make a break for it and take Seaview out to sea.

South across the Atlantic Seaview drives, pausing only long enough for the crew to tap an undersea telephone cable in a failed attempt to get through to the President. Then Seaview charges onward, through the Straits of Magellan and into the Pacific. On their way to the launch point they have to contend with a freshly-laid mine field, a hostile destroyer, an attack sub, and a gargantuan octopus, not to mention an onboard saboteur. Nonetheless they reach the launch point in time, thwart the saboteur, and succeed in carrying out their mission. They launch the missile and Earth is saved.

Publication history

• 1961, USA, Pyramid Books (#G622), Pub date Jun 1961, Paperback (159 pp)^[1]
• 1962, Germany, Pabel Verlag (Utopia Grossband #180), Paperback (96 pp), as Die Feuerflut (The Flood of Fire)^[2]
• 1964, USA, Pyramid Books (#R-1068), Pub date Sep & Oct 1964, Paperback (159 pp)^[1]
• 1967, USA, Pyramid Books (#R-1068), Pub date Apr & Oct 1967, Paperback (159 pp)^[1]
• 1967, The Netherlands, Het Spectrum (Prisma #1275), Paperback (188 pp), as Reis naar het Diepste van de Zee (Journey to the Depths of the Sea)^[1]

Reviews

The book was reviewed by

• Alfred Bester at The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (Oct 1961)^[1]
• P. Schuyler Miller at Analog Science Fact - Science Fiction (Dec 1961)^[1]
• Robert Silverberg at Amazing Stories (Apr 1965)^[1]
• P. Schuyler Mille at Analog Science Fiction - Science Fact (Jul 1965)^[1]

Adaptations

The book was adapted from the screenplay for the movie Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, which was written by Irwin Allen and Charles Bennett from a story conceived by Irwin Allen. The movie also inspired a TV series Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, which ran on ABC from 1964 September 14 to 1968 March 31.

References

Notes

Sources

• Clute, John, The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/). The book is mentioned in a list of titles at the bottom of the article on Theodore Sturgeon.
• Tuck, Donald H. (1974). The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy. Chicago: Advent. pg. 414. ISBN 0-911682-20-1.

Listings

The book is listed at

• www.worldcat.org as OCLC 6808760