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1[[quoteright:333:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/castaways.jpg]]
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3Probably one of the best known and beloved (well, [[BlindIdiotTranslation outside of the English-speaking world]]) Creator/JulesVerne novels, ''In Search of the Castaways'' (or ''Les Enfants du Capitaine Grant'', ''The Children of Captain Grant'' to give its original title) is, on the surface, a deceivingly simple story [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin of a rescue expedition looking for the marooned captain Grant and his sailors]]. This simplicity, however, belies the veritable feast of adventure, intrigue and betrayal, hope and despair, and, in a truly Vernian style, [[ShownTheirWork enough subtly weaved-in geographical knowledge for a master's degree]] (even if some of it [[ScienceMarchesOn is sadly out of date]]).
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5A wealthy Scottish noble, Lord Edward Glenarvan with his friends and family, while testing his newly built yacht, [[CoolBoat The]] ''[[CoolBoat Duncan]]'', in preparation for his honeymoon trip to Mediterranean, takes part in a shark hunt. The sailors find a bottle with a note in a shark's stomach, which tells of the plight of the titular Captain Grant. Lord Glenarvan tries to get the Admiralty to mount a rescue, but they are unwilling -- Captain Grant was a well-known Scottish nationalist, and was lost looking for lands in which to establish a Scottish colony. Everyone in his household is devastated by the news, especially the titular ''children'' of Captain Grant, Mary and Robert, who arrived to Glenarvan's home seat, Malcolm Castle, after reading a newspaper account of the discovery of the note from their father.
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7Then, moved by the children's despair, the young [[TeamMom Lady Glenarvan]] decides that they should mount a rescue by their own -- after all, they have a ship, [[UnclePennybags they have money]], and this expedition would make for an infinitely better honeymoon trip! The only problem is that the shipwreck note is badly damaged, and only readable coordinate is the latitude -- the 37th parallel south. Still the heroes are undaunted and decide to circumnavigate the Earth if needed. What follows is a wild goose-chase around the world, through [[UsefulNotes/{{Argentina}} Patagonia]], UsefulNotes/{{Australia}}, UsefulNotes/NewZealand and all other lands and rocks that happens to sit on the 37th parallel, until the heroes, having been deceived by the half-erased document and its conflicting interpretations, finally find Captain Harry Grant safe and sound on a tiny atoll in the Pacific, at the last possible place.
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9This simple explanation, though, doesn't even get close to doing justice to Verne's brilliant novel, which is widely accepted as one of the top jewels in the ''Voyages Extraordinaires'' crown. A cornerstone of the ''Captain Nemo'' trilogy (even if that was conceived in its final form somewhat later), it doesn't really have any science fiction elements, but as an adventure novel it stands tall and proud, and would remain one of the [[TropeCodifier genre's defining work]] for a long, long time. But beware of the public domain translations as they are [[BlindIdiotTranslation notoriously poor]], and most translators not only excised ''any'' anti-British statements, [[AuthorFilibuster of which there were many]], but also never bothered with Verne's detail, [[WritersCannotDoMath especially measurements and dates]].
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11A film adaptation was released by Creator/{{Disney}} in 1962. Directed by Creator/RobertStevenson and featuring songs by Music/TheShermanBrothers, it featured Creator/HayleyMills as Mary Grant, Creator/MauriceChevalier as Paganel, and Creator/GeorgeSanders as Ayrton. A Sovietic TV series was also released in 1985.
12----
13!!The novel shows these tropes:
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15* AbsentMindedProfessor: Paganel, full stop. In fact, this novel is undoubtedly the TropeCodifier for this trope. He's so airheaded that he ''joined'' the team by mistaking the ''Duncan'' for his steamer to India!
16* AerithAndBob: Wilson and Mulrady.
17* AmusingInjuries: Paganel, who was richly tattoed by the Māori during their New Zealand adventures, and was deeply embarrassed by the whole thing, even to the point of never returning to France.
18* ArcWelding: Was later joined together with the ''Literature/TwentyThousandLeaguesUnderTheSea'' and ''Literature/TheMysteriousIsland'' to form a "Captain Nemo trilogy".
19* AsYouKnow: Guilty as charged, but that's one of the main attractions of Verne's writing anyway, and he's usually quite subtle about it.
20* BatDeduction: ''All'' of the search party's interpretations of the damaged SOS note fall squarely and hilariously into this trope, making this trope not only OlderThanRadio, but older than even Literature/SherlockHolmes.
21* TheBet: [=MacNabbs=]' carbine vs. Paganel's telescope over whether the latter [[InfoDump can list 50+ explorers of Australia]]. [[spoiler: [[MrExposition Paganel]] won, but [=MacNabbs=] kept his favorite carbine on a technicality.]]
22* BilingualBonus: The novel, written in French, includes bits and pieces of [[GratuitousEnglish English]], [[GratuitousGerman German]], [[GratuitousSpanish Spanish]], [[FunWithForeignLanguages Portuguese]], [[LongList Mapuche]], [[EpicCatalog Māori]], and even [[ExaggeratedTrope a Lachlan form of Aboriginal Australian]]. This could easily degenerate into GratuitousForeignLanguage, but it's justified by the around-the-world theme and is often quite appropriate.
23* ButtMonkey: Again Paganel, as he is generally the novel's designated comic relief.
24* BraveScot: Verne insists on the characters' Scottishness early on, despite having traits most associated with British aristocracy.
25* ChasedByAngryNatives: Half of the New Zealand segment consists entirely of this, after the heroes get into altercation with Māori.
26* ChekhovsVolcano: Played with; the volcano doesn't erupt of its own volition, as one would expect, but because our heroes ''deliberately rig an eruption'' to help them escape.
27* ConvenientEscapeBoat: While running from the Māori, the heroes find a couple of the unused pirogues on the shore and hastily make their escape to the convenient European ship seen nearby. Their pursuers [[ChasedByAngryNatives promptly give chase in the second boat]], and hadn't the ship turned out to be the ''[[CoolBoat Duncan]]'', ready to give them some fire support, their fate was far from assured.
28* ConvenientlyInterruptedDocument: A MessageInABottle is discovered telling the tale of some castaways, but it is so degraded that only the latitude of the castaways position is legible.
29* CoolBoat: ''The Duncan'', Lord Glenarvan's steam yacht. A small and nimble ocean-going boat, she's been outfitted as a brig, but still was mainly a steamer, posting 17 knots at full steam, and was able to get into any point of the Earth's oceans.
30* CoolHorse: Thaouka, the trusty steed of the Patagonian guide Thalcave.
31* TheFilmOfTheBook: Made by Creator/WaltDisney no less!
32** As well as two separate Soviet adaptations.
33* GentlemanAdventurer: Lord Edward Glenarvan and most of the team.
34* GeniusDitz: Paganel is a supremely talented man and a veritable font of knowledge, and is actually a pretty solid adventurer, but he's so flighty that the only two times that he was without outside supervision are the novel's SugarWiki/FunnyMoments.
35* KidHero: Robert Grant is just twelve at the start of the novel.
36* MeaningfulName: Played straight with the many [[FunWithForeignLanguages foreign names]], each of which is an actual word in the appropriate language. Exaggerated with the proud and angry Māori chief Karatete, whose name is Māori for [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "proud and angry."]]
37* NoNameGiven: Major [=MacNabbs=], Lord Glenarvan's cousin, who is never referred by his given name in the whole novel.
38* NobleSavage: Thalcave, the Patagonian guide, though he's unusual in that he's actually pretty educated and intelligent in addition to other sides of this trope.
39** Contrast the Māori, to whom Verne is pretty sympathetic politically (the novel includes a long AuthorFilibuster denouncing British colonialism), but who are still ''shown'' as bloodthirsty cannibals because their society is run by a CorruptChurch.
40* TheMole: [[spoiler: Ayrton]] joined the team [[spoiler:and lied to everybody that he knows the ''Britannia'''s wreck position]] only to steal the ''Duncan'' and become a {{pirate}}.
41* MrExposition: Notice the pattern? Yep, that's Paganel again.
42* OverlyLongName: ''Jacques-Eliacin-Francois-Marie Paganel''.
43* PluckyComicRelief: Guess who?
44* PropagandaMachine: An absolutely hilarious part (unfortunately, not found in every translation), is Paganel testing the knowledge of an Australian schoolboy... who was taught that Britain rules the entire Earth. Then he asks the boy whether the English rule the Moon as well... and the boy answers in complete seriousness "They will".
45* ReducedToRatburgers: Couple of times when the team is low on supplies, such as in Eastern Australia or when hiding from Māori in New Zealand, they have to rely on rodents as the only available game around.
46* RescueRomance: Unusual in that it's not ''her'' rescue, but the growing attraction between Mary Grant and John Mangles, the ''Duncan'''s captain, definitely has shades of this.
47* [[SirNotAppearingInThisTrailer Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Book]]: As this was the first of the Captain Nemo Trilogy, but was finished well before the ArcWelding in ''Literature/TheMysteriousIsland'', Captain Nemo is never mentioned here.
48* StiffUpperLip: [=MacNabbs=] is noted to be perfectly imperturbable by anything, but in a twist on the trope is resolutely Scottish, to the point where he refuses to serve in an English regiment.
49* TheStoic: [=MacNabbs=], who only ever gets fired up by [[VitriolicBestBuds Paganel's]] antics.
50* ThoseTwoGuys: Wilson and Mulrady, two ''Duncan'' sailors who inevitably follow the team on all overland journeys.
51* TeamMom: Lady Helena Glenarvan might be just 24, but she fits the role perfectly.
52* TropeCodifier: For the AbsentMindedProfessor with Paganel.
53* VitriolicBestBuds: Major [=MacNabbs=] and Paganel.
54
55!!Tropes in the 1962 film:
56* AdaptedOut: Lady Helena is nowhere to be seen.
57* AsTheGoodBookSays: Most of Bill Gaye's lines are Bible quotes taken out of context.
58* CanonForeigner: John Glenarvan, Lord Glenarvan's son, isn't in the novel, where Lord and Lady Glenarvan are married but have no children. He inherits some of the traits of John ''Mangles'', the ship's captain, such as his budding romance with Mary Grant.
59* DeadpanSnarker: Lord Glenarvan and his son, John.
60* DemotedToExtra: Everyone except Lord Glenarvan, Paganel, Mary and Robert, and some of them are removed entirely.
61* TheEeyore: Lord Glenarvan always finds something to complain about. He gets a bit better towards the end.
62* MissingMom: John Glenarvan, continuing a long Disney tradition.
63* ObfuscatingInsanity: Bill Gaye. Maybe he's insane, maybe he's pretending to be insane, [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs maybe he's insane]] ''[[BreadEggsBreadedEggs and]]'' [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs pretending to be insane]]...
64* PluckyComicRelief: Paganel and Bill Gaye.
65* SandInMyEyes: Paganel uses a variant of this at the end.
66--> '''Paganel:''' ''[to Lord Glenarvan]'' I must be catching your cold.
67* TwistEnding: [[spoiler: Captain Grant didn't throw that bottle in the ocean. Bill Gaye did. Mary and Robert thought it was their father's handwriting because Gaye was a forger.]]
68* VitriolicBestBuds: Lord Glenarvan and Mr. Paganel.
69* WildGooseChase: The entire South America sequence is this; turns out [[spoiler: Captain Grant is in New Zealand.]]

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