Whirlpool such violent tidal surges: Three of the most notable literary references to the Lofoten Maelstrom date from the nineteenth century. The first is the Edgar Allan Poe short story "A Descent into the Maelström" (1841). The second is "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" (1870), the famous novel by Jules Verne. At the end of this novel, Captain Nemo seems to commit suicide, sending his "Nautilus" submarine into the Maelstrom (although in Verne's sequel Nemo and the Nautilus were seen to have survived). The "Norway maelstrom" is also mentioned in Herman Melville's "Moby-Dick". In the 'Life of St Columba', the author,
Jules Verne ATV were built by several different aerospace companies; the docking and refuelling systems were produced by RSC Energia in Russia, the pressurised section was assembled by Alenia Spazio in Turin, Italy, and the propulsion system was constructed by EADS Astrium in Bremen, Germany. The propulsion system was integrated with the pressurised compartment in Bremen, before the spacecraft was moved to the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, for testing. It arrived at ESTEC on 15 July 2004. "Jules Verne" was launched into low Earth orbit atop the maiden flight of the Ariane 5ES carrier rocket. Lift-off