U.S. & World History – Jules Verne (1828-1905) is considered one of the greatest science fiction writers of all time. He wrote many short stories and more than 50 novels, including “A Journey to the Center of the Earth”, “The Mysterious Island” and “Around the World in Eighty Days”. Another one of his most popular novels was inspired by a disastrous accident. While far at sea on an old wooden ship with several hundred men, it was discovered that a colony of termites had began eating through the hull. The ship rapidly began to take on water when fountain after fountain sprang up, literally hundreds per minute. Within an hour the ship sank, but fortunately another ship was in the area and the entire crew was saved. Jules Verne never forgot the harrowing experience and later wrote about it, initially calling it “20,000 Leaks Under the Sea”.