In Search of the Castaways


Read by LibriVox Volunteers

(4.3 stars; 199 reviews)

The book tells the story of the quest for Captain Grant of the Britannia. After finding a bottle cast into the ocean by the captain himself after the Britannia is shipwrecked, Lord and Lady Glenarvan of Scotland decide to launch a rescue expedition. The main difficulty is that the coordinates of the wreckage are mostly erased, and only the latitude (37 degrees) is known.
Lord Glenarvan makes it his quest to find Grant; together with his wife, Grant's children and the crew of his yacht the Duncan they set off for South America. An unexpected passenger in the form of French geographer Jacques Paganel joins the search. They explore Patagonia, Tristan da Cunha Island, Amsterdam Island, Australia and New Zealand in their search for the castaways. (summary from Wikipedia) (17 hr 1 min)

Chapters

Introduction 3:24 Read by Sibella Denton
Book One - I - The Shark 9:55 Read by Sibella Denton
Book One - II - The Three Documents 16:45 Read by Eddie Winter
Book One - III - The Captain's Children 8:54 Read by Eddie Winter
Book One - IV - Lady Glenarvan's Proposal 10:17 Read by Sibella Denton
Book One - V - The Departure of the "Duncan" 8:52 Read by Laurie Anne Walden
Book One - VI - An Unexpected Passenger 12:28 Read by Sibella Denton
Book One - VII - Jacques Paganel is undeceived 11:57 Read by cowfoots
Book One - VIII - The Geographer's Resolution 11:31 Read by Sibella Denton
Book One - IX - Through the Straits of Magelan 10:01 Read by Sibella Denton
Book One - X - The Course decided 14:10 Read by Sibella Denton
Book One - XI - Traveling in Chili 11:01 Read by humeangel
Book One - XII - Eleven Thousand Feet aloft 10:48 Read by Sibella Denton
Book One - XIII - A sudden Descent 20:47 Read by humeangel
Book One - XIV - Providentially rescued 16:47 Read by Roger Melin
Book One - XV - Thalcave 13:13 Read by Sibella Denton
Book One - XVI - The News of the lost Captain 13:57 Read by Sibella Denton
Book One - XVII - A serious Necessity 8:50 Read by Helen Elsbeth
Book One - XVIII - In search of Water 16:14 Read by Helen Elsbeth
Book One - XIX - The Red Wolves 19:00 Read by Anna Roberts
Book One - XX - Strange Signs 10:40 Read by Anna Roberts
Book One - XXI - A False Trail 13:06 Read by Roger Melin
Book One - XXII - The Flood 18:50 Read by Erica Sims
Book One - XXIII - A Singular Abode 17:59 Read by Maria Elmvang
Book One - XXIV - Paganel's Disclosure 18:57 Read by Maria Elmvang
Book One - XXV - Between Fire and Water 16:01 Read by Mark F. Smith
Book One - XXVI - The Return on Board 17:53 Read by Mark F. Smith
Book Two - I - A New Destination 16:33 Read by Sibella Denton
Book Two - II - Tristan D'Acunha and the Isle of Amsterdam 9:57 Read by Esther
Book Two - III - Cape Town and M. Viot 10:16 Read by Esther
Book Two - IV - A Wager and how decided 14:52 Read by Eddie Winter
Book Two - V - The Storm on the Indian Ocean 17:01 Read by Eddie Winter
Book Two - VI - A Hospitable Colonist 18:37 Read by Eddie Winter
Book Two - VII - The Quartermaster of the "Britania" 20:30 Read by Eddie Winter
Book Two - VIII - Preparation for the Journey 15:39 Read by Eddie Winter
Book Two - IX - A Country of Paradoxes 12:33 Read by Esther
Book Two - X - An Accident 16:16 Read by Esther
Book Two - XI - Crime or Calamity 14:46 Read by Sibella Denton
Book Two - XII - Toline of the Lachlan 19:54 Read by fourgrays
Book Two - XIII - A Warning 16:09 Read by Esther
Book Two - XIV - Wealth in the Wilderness 21:24 Read by Kristine Bekere
Book Two - XV - Suspicious Occurences 23:05 Read by Kristine Bekere
Book Two - XVI - A startling Discovery 21:21 Read by Kristine Bekere
Book Two - XVII - The Plot Unveiled 21:47 Read by Kristine Bekere
Book Two - XVIII - Four Days of Anguish 22:06 Read by Kristine Bekere
Book Two - XIX - Helpless and Hopeless 20:48 Read by Kristine Bekere
Book Three - I - A Rough Captain 15:47 Read by Kristine Bekere
Book Three - II - Navigators and their Discoveries 7:09 Read by Kristine Bekere
Book Three - III - The Martyr-roll of Navigators 5:46 Read by Kristine Bekere
Book Three - IV - The Wreck of the "Macquarie" 17:20 Read by Peter Yearsley
Book Three - V - Cannibals 10:43 Read by mpetranech
Book Three - VI - The dreaded Country 14:50 Read by Laurie Anne Walden
Book Three - VII - The Maori War 11:46 Read by Esther
Book Three - VIII - On the Road to Auckland 11:24 Read by Sibella Denton
Book Three - IX - Introduction to the Cannibals 15:14 Read by Dirk Weber
Book Three - X - A momentous Interview 16:04 Read by Esther
Book Three - XI - The Chief's Funeral 16:29 Read by mpetranech
Book Three - XII - Strangely liberated 22:18 Read by aquielisunari
Book Three - XIII - The sacred Mountain 27:12 Read by Lucy Lo Faro
Book Three - XIV - A bold Stratagem 18:01 Read by Esther
Book Three - XV - From Peril to Safety 16:25 Read by Sibella Denton
Book Three - XVI - Why the "Duncan" went to New-Zealand 14:51 Read by Maria Elmvang
Book Three - XVII - Airton's Obstinacy 14:49 Read by Maria Elmvang
Book Three - XVIII - A discouraging Confession 18:45 Read by Esther
Book Three - XIX -A Cry in the Night 20:15 Read by Kristine Bekere
Book Three - XX - Captain Grant's Story 22:05 Read by Maria Elmvang
Book Three - XXI - Paganel's last Entanglement 8:35 Read by Kristine Bekere

Reviews

Slightly fanciful, varied narration


(3 stars)

The story is not too bad although there are parts, like opening a volcano and camping next to it for a day that are a little too "imaginative". The narration is pretty good from just about all the volunteers except for the terrible murder of a number of Australian and New Zealand words like Maori. That's mao-ri as in chairman Mao, not ma-or-i as in "oar". Or perhaps we could start saying Amer - eee - can In - die - ians as in "we" and "dye". While I can accept that the odd place name is mispronounced, the name of a race that appears hundreds of times probably deserves a little research: http://www.forvo.com/word/maori/ But otherwise, thank you for volunteering your time

Good book, some frustrating chapters


(4 stars)

The book is great. I highly recommend reading it before The Mysterious Island. Unfortunately a narrator who does not speak very good English reads quite a few chapters in the middle and the final chapter of the book. She is quite hard to understand - even for a listener who speaks to foreign languages besides my native English. It was very frustrating, but I had already invested so much time into listening that I did not want to quit. Do yourself a favor and just read the book unless Libra Vox comes out with a different version.


(4.5 stars)

As fun as it is amazing and far fetched. I encourage anyone to enjoy this far flung adventure.

Good Story


(4.5 stars)

I was surprised by this one, I love Characters that are truly good even when faced with terrible situations they stayed faithful and stood by their purpose. It was also a lot of fun! Pagonel was such a great character and even though many of the events are fantastic, it is no worse than a super hero movie. I know many people have complained about the narrators not being clear. There were some chapters that had a lot of mispronounced words and a very thick accent. but I felt that with such an internationall story, the accents added to the feel of the book. I shared the characters experience in deciphering a strange foreign message.

find a different narration! some terrible narrators


(1 stars)

I wish you could flag certain chapters to be redone. there is a woman in the middle of book 2 that apparently is still learning English. And later on in book 3 there is a guy who is probably even worse, ch.9 when he started. I would recommend finding a different version so you can enjoy this book.


(4 stars)

I’m a truck driver and I listen to many many books. I want to tell you that I appreciate this app and I understand that it is free but some of the readers were almost unintelligible. It was very easy to tell that English is not their first language and it made it very difficult to understand the chapters they were reading.

Wonderful Adventure


(5 stars)

This is probably one of my favorite Verne novels yet! There were so many epic happenings and lovable characters. I enjoyed it immensely. *Please note that this book has some racism which is common in older books. If this greatly disturbs/triggers you, you might want to hold off on this read.


(2 stars)

While I appreciate the passion for the book by the readers. Please have readers whom English is their first language. There were several volunteers who you could not understand and made it extremely hard to follow.