14 minSummaryRead it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook editionPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
A bottle holds a shipwrecked captain’s plea for help—but only one line of latitude points the way.
Aboard the Scottish yacht Duncan, a fishing catch brings up a sealed bottle containing three damaged notes. Lord Edward Glenarvan sets out to find the missing Captain Grant. For the captain’s children, Mary and Robert, the voyage carries a deeply personal hope: that their father is still alive.
In Jules Verne’s In Search of the Castaways, the rescuers follow their slender clue across South America, Australia, New Zealand and open seas. Jacques Paganel, a learned but absent-minded geographer, helps untangle the words. Mountains, floods and wild animals test the party, while each reading of the message shapes where they search next.
What you’ll discover
- A puzzle across continents Follow damaged words and a line on the map through a rescue full of uncertainty.
- Children with everything at stake Share Mary and Robert Grant’s hope as they join the search for their missing father.
- Knowledge with a comic touch Meet Jacques Paganel, whose learning and absent-minded ways bring geography and humour into the journey.
- Wild country underfoot Cross the Andes and the pampas, where floods and wild animals make travel dangerous.
- Loyalty put to the test Watch courage, skill and steady friendship sustain the travellers when their search grows difficult.
Who will love it
Readers who enjoy voyages, maps and puzzles will love this adventure with real places and curious animals. It also suits those who like a cheerful cast facing storms, floods and strange lands with humor.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A broken message starts the search
- Helena turns a cruise into rescue
- Loyalty holds when the mountain moves
- Trust reaches beyond a shared language
- A false trail invites another reading
- A helpful stranger raises quiet doubts
- Another crossing leads into captivity
- Every reading must face the evidence
- Courage and friendship carry the voyage
Who’s who
- Lord Edward GlenarvanA generous Scottish peer who owns the yacht Duncan and sets out to save a shipwrecked captain he has never met.
- Lady HelenaGlenarvan's young wife, who proposes the rescue voyage and keeps her courage through every danger.
- Mary GrantCaptain Grant's elder daughter, who has raised her brother alone and will do anything to find their father.
- Robert GrantCaptain Grant's twelve-year-old son, brave and quick, who longs to be a sailor and believes his father is alive.
- Jacques PaganelA French geographer who boards the wrong ship by mistake and becomes the expedition's learned, absent-minded guide.
- Major McNabbsGlenarvan's calm cousin, a Scottish soldier who rarely speaks, never panics, and notices more than he says.
- John ManglesThe young captain of the Duncan, loyal to Glenarvan, skilled at sea, and quietly devoted to Mary Grant.
- ThalcaveA Patagonian guide of few words and great skill with horse and gun, who leads the travelers across the Pampas.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet or computer, once the book texts are online.
- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, once the book texts are online.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 14 minutes, to read today.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
Every printed copy is made when you order it and shipped worldwide; shipping is shown at checkout. The eBook opens when the book texts go online.
How it works
- Start free. Nothing to pay today; the eBook of this book is yours to keep.
- Read and print. 200,000+ classics as eBook, large-print eBook and 15-minute summary, and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print, 5 accounts for the price of one.
- We remind you first. Free for 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment. Then USD 0.14 a day in your first year on the yearly plan and USD 0.27 a day after, or USD 0.66 a day on the monthly plan. Cancel online in two clicks.
Bought on its own? Every eBook and printed book you buy without the plan carries our 30-day money-back guarantee.
25 languages, side by side
In Search of the Castaways in 25 languages, side by side, paragraph by paragraph, once the book texts are online: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
In Search of the Castaways
by Jules Verne · 1867
A shark swallows a bottle, and three scraps of paper send a Scottish lord around the world.
Medium level5–10 hours to read20 languages
Learn a language with medium classicsSpanishFrenchGermanItalianJapanesePortugueseEnglishHow we measure levels
Excellent
Free for 3 months · starts right away, on any device
Read free3 months free · cancel anytimeRenews every year · Cancel anytimeHow it works
- Read, large type too
- 25 languages, side by side
- Print and large print at cost
- 5 accounts for the price of one
In short
On a July day in 1864, sailors on a Scottish steam yacht cut open a hammerhead shark. Inside is a crusted bottle, and inside the bottle are three soaked scraps of paper, in English, French and German.
In Search of the Castaways at a glance
- Reading time
- About 9 h 55 min7 h 55 min fast, 11 h 50 min slow
- Length
- 142,000 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1867by Jules Verne
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A shark delivers a message in pieces
The story opens on July 26, 1864, aboard the Duncan, a new steam yacht owned by Lord Glenarvan. The crew hooks a hammerhead shark and cuts it open. In its stomach lies a bottle crusted with sea growth. Glenarvan breaks it and finds three damaged documents, each seeming to copy the same note.
Salt water has erased most of the words, so the group trades fragments across the three languages like people solving a crossword. Piece by piece, a message appears. The ship Britannia of Glasgow sank in June 1862, and her captain and two sailors ask for help at a latitude of thirty-seven degrees eleven minutes. A word ending in gonie makes Lady Helena cry out Patagonia.
Renews every year · Cancel anytime
You looked at
Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1867
- Language
- English
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Verne, Jules. In Search of the Castaways. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/in-search-of-the-castaways.
Verne, J. (2026). In search of the castaways. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/in-search-of-the-castaways (Original work published 1867)
Verne, Jules. In Search of the Castaways. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/in-search-of-the-castaways.
@book{verne2026search,
author = {Verne, Jules},
title = {In Search of the Castaways},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/in-search-of-the-castaways},
note = {First published 1867}
}
Free gifts
USD 580 in free gifts when you start
Every book in every format and in 25 languages, 5 accounts for the price of one. Nothing to pay today.
- 200,000+ classic eBooksIn 25 languages, side by side
USD 170FREE - Every eBookIn 25 languages, any device
USD 120FREE - 15-minute summariesRead in 25 languages
USD 60FREE - Print at cost, no markupPaperback, hardcover, large print
USD 60FREE - 5 accounts for the price of oneA shelf for everyone at home
USD 170FREE - A part in rebuilding the libraryNew languages and books for all
FREE
Questions about In Search of the Castaways
Can I read it free?
Yes. The first key idea of the 15-minute summary is free with no sign-up. Start free and the whole book is yours for 3 months, with the eBook to keep, plus 200,000+ more classics and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print. Nothing to pay today: we email you 7 days before your first payment, and you can cancel online in two clicks.
Can I buy the printed book?
Soon. The paperback, hardcover and large print editions are being prepared. Choose Paperback or Hardcover above, leave your email, and we tell you the day you can order it, printed at cost.
How many accounts do I get?
Five, for the price of one: you and 4 more people, each with their own login, shelf and their own place in every book.
Can I cancel anytime?
Yes. Cancel online in two clicks at any time and nothing more is charged. Nothing is charged in your first 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment.
What is In Search of the Castaways about?
It follows a Scottish lord and his friends who find a message in a bottle and sail around the world along the thirty-seventh parallel. They hope to rescue Captain Grant, who was lost when his ship, the Britannia, went down.
Who is Paganel in In Search of the Castaways?
Jacques Paganel is a French geographer who boards the Duncan by mistake, thinking it is a ship to India. He joins the search and becomes the group's guide, always learned, talkative and delightfully absent-minded.
Why is the thirty-seventh parallel important in the book?
The damaged message gives a latitude of thirty-seven degrees eleven minutes but no longitude. The travelers decide to follow that line of latitude all the way around the world, which takes them through South America, Australia and New Zealand.
The author
Jules Verne
1828–1905 · French adventure novelist
Jules Verne was a French writer born in Nantes in 1828. He lived in Paris and later in Amiens, where he died in 1905. His novels include Journey to the Centre of the Earth (1864), Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea (1870), and Around the World in Eighty Days (1873).
More by Jules Verne
See all their booksMore like this
Our mission
The library burned once. We are building it back.
Every great book, in every language and every format, for every family. Every plan helps pay for new languages and books for readers who have never had them. Join the movement.
Read our story- Every language25 languages today, side by side, and more every year
- No wastePrinted on demand: no warehouses, no unsold stock, no pulped copies
- For everyonePaperback, hardcover and large print at the cost of printing
