This Nautilus - the 2nd version - of Hugues Rouleux ("BatNemo") is still in work, so some of the details illustrated here may change.  The beak-like ram of the first version has grown much more elaborate while the hull has assumed a more rounded, organic shape.  BatNemo's rough line drawing shows a barbed raker arch similar to the first, but it is not yet on the model.  Hugues informs me this will be a double arch, as with his first boat, above.  I've ghosted it in my graphic.  There is a two level deck.  The upper level, built into a rounded structure atop the hull, has a classic four-sided wheel house near the forward end and a large boat aft.  The lower deck has a small dorsal fin forward and a lantern with forward facing light aft.  Again, Hugues tells me that the wheelhouse and the lantern will withdraw into the hull, as in the novel, giving a clean profile for ram attacks.  The tail is similar to the first version and still somewhat Goff-like.  The hull is flared at the center line extending into what may be dive planes amidships and then again into horizontal tail fins aft.  The hull plates overlap bow to stern.  The salon windows are set in recesses in the lower hull and face partly forward.  The hull includes a smoothly fared keel.  You can see photos of the unfinished model on BatNemo's website or, for the time being, here.

Greg Rico began from the perspective of Civil War ironclads when he conceived his Nautilus.  The ironclads were built to take a pounding and give it back.  That succinctly describes this very "steam punk" design.  Greg has designed an upper attack deck as a superstructure set on top of a normally submerged secondary, utility deck.  Both the pilothouse and lantern housing are retractable more for the practical purpose of protecting them during an attack then to streamline the submarine.  The ram is more brutal and functional then in most designs.  The large, round salon window is positioned just forward of the nearly amidships dive plane.  The dive hatch is placed in the keel, rather Goff-style.  The prop and rudder are well protected by a beefy set of guards.  Click here to see more of Greg's Nautilus drawings.  

Pierre-Yves Garcin conceived the design of this Nautilus, extrapolated from the original Hetzel illustrations, evident in the wheelhouse, lamp, and deck details, but with some deliberate differences.  His version has a six-bladed propeller, several small portholes, and no spur.  Pierre's intent was to bring Verne's vision closer to the reality of such early submarines as Zédé's.  Pierre had his vision realized in a one-of-a-kind 60-cm model, built for him by Bernard Brimeur, who works for Disney, MGM, and various other film companies.  (The photo of the model at right is © 2007-P.Fautrat/Envie d'Image.)  See more photos of this model on the Mobilis in Mobile museum website.


Leelan Lampkins is in the process of refining his Nautilus.  The obvious difference is the redesigned tail.  Noting that Aronnax thought the monster might be a giant narwhale, Leelan was looking for a surface profile more like a whale than a shark.  The new tail fin is normally below the waterline and in any case not obvious even when rolling seas expose the propeller.

Feature film Concept artist and Digital Matte Painter Meinert Hansen sent me his interesting, somewhat organic Nautilus design. The spiral screw propeller isn't from Verne but was in fact conceived and patented as a propulsion device for vessels in the late 18^th century.  It is technology that Nemo might have considered when he designed the Nautilus.  This propeller is consistent with the flowing, fluid, fishlike appearance of the forward part of this design.  The shape of the hull and the propeller call to mind a Paleozoic nautiloid ancestor of the modern chambered nautilus, the namesake of Nemo's submarine.  Nautiloids, predators like the Nautilus, propel themselves backwards, their tentacles trailing.  The fin-like ventral rudder and dive planes evoke the body of a squid, and the spiral prop might be its fins.  The giant squid attack is Disney, not Verne, but the association is fixed in popular perception, and Meinert captures it nicely.  See a color, undersea image of this Nautilus on Meinert's Fiction Science Design web site.  See another Hansen design below.
 

3D modeler Helmut Schaub's Nautilus calls to mind a number of other designs.  The basic hull shape and appearance remind me of the Greg deSantis Improbable Nautilus.  It shares external anchor chains, a three-part salon window, and the basic deck structure with that Nautilus.  The tall conning tower wheelhouse, which resembles Gino d'Achille's illustrations for the 1983 Random House Step into Classics edition of 20,000 Leagues, the signature ornate tail (characteristic of other Schaub creations), and tiered centerline ram give it a distinct appearance.  Upper and lower rakers on the bow continue the ram tiers but also recall the classic Goff design.  My facsimile drawing doesn't do justice to the details of the original, hinted in the render at right.  See more of the model on the Cornucopia3D web site (follow the links near the bottom of the Cornucopia page for other images). 

Fascinated with steam power, human-computer interaction researcher Nathan Prestopnik conceived this steam-powered Nautilus in early 2008.  The design features a relatively small spar mounted high on the bow.  The cutwater ends in a protective arch for a large steamship-like bridge.  The small structure on top, just forward of a railed upper deck, is probably a lantern but could be a flying bridge/wheelhouse.  Aft of the bridge there is a large, recessed deck with an elevated bulwark.  The two stacks and several ventilators on this deck are clearly surface ship features.  Although Prestopnik expresses some doubt, we can assume Nemo would have been technically astute enough to equip these for submerged running.  A narrow deck with railing extends aft above the hull to a lantern housing  The hull has a rounded spindle shape (the classic cigar), with two sets of large dive planes, one forward and one aft.  There are Goff-like salon windows located fore and aft of the forward planes.  This Nautilus features a long, elaborate tail culminating in a large rudder.  The interesting arrangement of two four-bladed props on a single shaft reminds me of the experimental propellers tested on the modified Walter S. Winans cigar ship.  See Nate's rendering of this Nautilus as a desk model, perhaps with the paint still wet, on his Imperial Solutions web site.

Ron Strickler's Nautilus has some of Goff's design with its large arched raker but the overall appearance is more like a retro-style rocket.  The arch structure incorporates the wheelhouse, whose windows create the open arch impression.  A deck extends aft from the wheelhouse structure to a small hatch aft.  There is a short ram on the bow and the hull terminates with a small rudder.  A set of searchlights is mounted in the bow just aft of the ram and the large view port is circled with lights just aft of amidships.  You can see Ron's final drawing but also follow the changes he made as he drew it on the "Rate my Drawings" website under his site moniker.

"Techromancer" makes no claim to Nemo's Nautilus in his short description, but his Victorian Submarine surely could be.  His angular design has a polygon-cross-section hull with the forward section re-inforced for ramming (making the long spar seem almost fragile by comparison).  The pilot house reminds me of an armored train that, further protected by a hefty wedge just forward, appears strong enough to support ram attacks.  It has two large ports on its sides and a small one forward.  The small roundhouse that tops it might even be retractable.  The fair-sized, wedge-shaped dive planes are forward of a set of four circular ports positioned just forward of amidships. The two vertical fins aft end in a large double rudder.  The propulsion mechanism isn't clear but could be a small prop protected by a polygonal shroud.

C.J. Leigh's Nautilus, modeled in SketchUp, has a long, somewhat Victorian-looking spar, mounted at deck height.  A narrow web stretching to the hull supports the spar over most of its length and extends protectively over the wheelhouse.  The hexagonal wheelhouse located at the forward end of the deck has a round window on five sides, oriented so that one looks forward.  There is a small set of lights atop the structure and the aft side has a hatch with some stairs ascending to the deck.  Squat cylinders on either side just aft of the wheelhouse may account for the water jets associated with the “sea monster” in the novel. The deck itself is inset in the hull and has a solid railing over much of its length.  There is another hatch slight to the side at the aft end next to a stair that ascends to a scuppered platform at the very end.  The lantern, similar to but smaller than the wheelhouse, is located on the platform.  The launch is inset in the very aft end, Goff-style.  The Victorian appearance of the hull is enhanced by low fairings on the sides of the hull that increase in height to accommodate large oval salon windows, situated at the wheelhouse position, and then narrow again but transform into horizontal fins near the stern.  Large, rectangular dive planes with an airfoil cross-section are located on the fairings amidships.  There are diving hatches low on the hull sides approximately amidships.  A small four-bladed propeller is mounted below the stern at the end of a vertical fairing extended from the keel.  A semicircular rudder is situated just aft of the prop.  You can view and download Leigh's Nautilus from the Google 3D Warehouse.

The clean lines of Elías Enmanuel Castillo Rivera's spindle-hulled Nautilus make me think of it as a more Jules Verne-like "Sword of the Sea" than that in the Extraordinary Gentlemen film.  His raised, dagger-like ram extends to fairing running to the forward end of the deck.  A narrow vertical fin extends the length of the hull aft of the deck.  The keel begins just aft of the salon window and extends into a similar lower fin.  The vertical fins culminate in a large rudder aft of the prop.  These planes make the Nautilus resemble a prehistoric marine reptile from a top view.  There are four large diving planes centered amidships, two just aft of the salon window and two a corresponding distance aft of mid-hull. The small deck is very much as Verne described it with a low wheelhouse forward, a boat amidships and a lantern aft.  The lantern is mounted on a high tower as the only exception to the text.  Both deck structures can be withdrawn into the hull for a streamlined attack configuration.  With the tall ventral fin Elías has placed just aft of the deck, his Nautilus the appearance of a monstrous killer whale when running rigged for attack. 

Elías Enmanuel Castillo Rivera continued to refine his Nautilus and provided me this update.  Truer to the novel, this version replaces the quad diving planes and ventral fin with a pair of midship-mounted planes.  The hull is very much the same although he's added a scale-like plating.  The salon window is now rectangular and protected by a sliding exterior cover.  The ram is unchanged but the keel and fins have been refined for a more fishlike silhouette, and Elías reduced the rudder height while extending it aft.  With smaller pilot house and lantern and the new railing all retracted into the hull for attacks and the cleaner fins structure aft, this Nautilus has a more natural sea creature appearance.  This new effort is much more classic in appearance but at the cost of the quad planes.

Illustrator Emilio Amade features this Nautilus in the poster El Submarino del Futuro from his Jules Verne cutaway series.  The design closely follows Jules Verne's text.  There is a three-bladed center-line ram at the stem of the cylindrical hull.  The deck is only a little more elevated than other novel-consistent designs and has three low fairing blades at the forward end, perhaps to protect the deck during a ram attack.  My image of the poster is too small to read, but the pilot house and lantern appear retractable.  The large fin-like rudder is controlled by a chain running from the aft hull.  The poster itself appears quite interesting with considerable background information on period submarine technology, features of the Nautilus and on the novel.  See an image of the poster here.

Artists are faced with the problem of presenting something different  when doing covers for new editions of 20,000 Leagues under the Sea.  Freelance illustrator Nitzan Klamer (kipizki) created this Nautilus for a art project cover.  Klamer has retained his own distinctive style while evoking Verne in a way that doesn't repeat elements of the well-known Goff version, and doesn't look too much like a modern submarine.  The simplified image here is missing the artist's details and the context of the cover art.  See the full cover illustration here.   
 

Justin Oaksford's Nautilus has an industrial look and a streamlined shape unlike any of the others featured here.  Per his words, Justin "tried to make it cool, but still within the descriptions of the book". His Nautilus has a flat, possibly two-level upper hull and a gracefully tapered lower hull, narrower at the bow and thicker at the stern.  The ram is more suggested than apparent with a sloping raker structure a short distance further aft on top of the hull.  The upper hull sweeps straight back more than half the boat's length to the second level section that starts with a large hemispherical globe on each side.  These are likely pilothouse windows.  Further aft a small superstructure rises from the deck and then slopes back to the hull that curves down to the stern.  On the lower hull there is a small lantern attached to the hull bottom a short distance back from the bow.  About a third of the way sternward several large cylindrical structures are attached to the hull bottom and what may be a large rectangular window or perhaps just a lighted panel is situated higher up.  There is a more conventional circular port low on the hull about two thirds of the way back.  A large scoop is apparent on the hull side just forward of the unconventional propulsion section.  A rudder is mounted on the bottom of the upper hull near the stern. See Justin Oaksford's finely detailed illustration of his Nautilus at DeviantArt.

This sleek, modern Nautilus by senior digital modeler Michael Meyers pays homage to Harper Goff, but is clearly designed as a giant shark.  Goff's ram has been smoothed down to a spike and the long, sweeping raker arch is now almost half the length of the boat and studded with shark's teeth.  The Victorian wheelhouse is faired into the shark's body hull, with organically shaped windows forward.  The circular side windows recall the original wheelhouse but also Goff's salon windows.  The dorsal and tail fins are there, perhaps a little less streamlined than Goff's.  Meyers has opened up the bow with a set of monster-eye windows. Is this Nemo's salon?  Further aft, the large gills must be intakes for some advanced propulsion system, evidenced by the un-shark-like cylinders on the tail.  Otherwise the giant shark appearance is enhanced by three pairs of fins from the largest, well forward of amidships, to the tail.  The dorsal fin is complemented by a smaller ventral fin below.  There are three relatively small circular windows on the hull where one might expect the salon and a larger one slightly farther aft on the lower hull.  Overall, the appearance is less threatening than graceful but powerful, a beautiful sea monster.  See Meyers' original concept art here.

Here's another Nautilus design by Michael Meyers.  Clearly in the form of a shark, this Nautilus might be the lower-tech predecessor of his sleek design above.  It has three eight-bladed propellers, a large one in the tail and a smaller side-by-side pair below the aft hull.  There appears to be a circular window (not visible in the graphic) at the forward end of the superstructure where we'd expect the wheelhouse.  I'm not sure of my interpretation but there may be a round port in the hull above the pectoral fins and three smaller ports farther aft.  There's not much of Verne in this design, but it is surely a monster of the deep.
 
  

I found Ruby White's partial Nautilus during a periodic sweep for new designs.  Ruby White Enterprises produced the image, which can be seen on their web site, as an example illustration for 20,000 Leagues under the Sea, hoping to interest a publisher.  The image doesn't show the bow, nor is the salon window area visible, but what is there is interesting.  The hull is more or less spindle shaped and constructed of overlapping plates, not unlike my design.  Large dive planes appear to be mounted a little aft of amidships.  The rudder isn't visible but the large propeller breaks the surface, as described in the novel.  The deck details are most interesting.  Instead of a wheelhouse there are four small observation domes set in a line fore and aft.  These appear to be retractable, the openings covered by half shell sliding plates on either side.  There is a small deck and hatch amidships.  The launch is set into the hull nearby, on the port side.

Oceanology: The True Account of the Voyage of the Nautilus includes this unique design.  Some elements are reminiscent of Harper Goff's but the overall impression is very different.  The large perforated raker arch extends will past the midpoint to the large hexagonal wheelhouse.  The external platform atop the wheelhouse has several rail-mounted searchlights and a periscope.  The deck extends all the way aft and includes a hatch and launch.  The hull has a large salon window amidships but also several smaller portholes.  An interior drawing included in the book shows four in the library, two in Nemo's cabin and one in his study, and six in the diving chamber.  That chamber is not for divers but for a spherical miniature submarine called the Nautosphere.  The divers exit via the deck hatch, which has its own airlock.  There appear to be two small lights on the bottom forward hull in addition to large forward looking searchlights faired into the hull alongside the massive and intricate ram.  Incidentally, in this account Nemo tells the main character, a young boy, that the ram is intended for defense.  The lethal silhouette of this Nautilus belies that statement.  The submarine is equipped with a single propeller mounted under the hull and a set of large dive planes mounted well aft of amidships.

Peter Findley, a television production designer who understands that a sleek, simple submarine will look dull on screen, created this Nautilus that is anything but dull.  His organic design has many flat planes, unexpected curves, and odd geometric shapes.  The long sharp and strong nose (let's think of this as a monster) but complex, detailed stern give the impression of a vessel with a purpose.  It's brutish and lethal in some ways, but, noticing the large windows on its bottom, capable of benign observation and research as well, not unlike Captain Nemo himself.  The spar has a spiral form that looks like razor wire and merges cleanly into an amorphous hull.  There is no wheelhouse, but large forward-looking windows at the waterline - the eyes of the beast.  There is a small circular deck near amidships, forward of a large unexplained superstructure.  Much of this submarine defies explanation.  The propulsion mechanism isn't clear, but the large vertical and horizontal fins imply its motion is controlled with strength.  The large observation windows on the lower forward hull - the grinning mouth of the beast - provide a panoramic view.  Further aft, there are three small dome ports on the side and a large downward-looking dome on the bottom.  See more of Peter's creation here.

"Reitsuki Kojima" has created this faithful Nautilus in the Vernian Sea of Second Life.  His design has a long, barbed, triangular ram.  Except for the slightly angled bow, the hull is spindle-shaped.  The salon windows are inset behind protective sliding exterior panels.  There a a pair of airfoil shaped diving planes amidships.  The tail consists of thick vertical and horizontal fins that support a protective ring around the large four-bladed propeller and a large rudder aft of the prop.  The deck has identical retractable four-sided structures for the wheelhouse and lantern.  Each has a larger plate at the top to compensate for the tapered shape and a circular glass on each side.  There is a launch in the deck just forward of amidships.  Reitsuki has included an interior  that resembles that of my original design, with slanting upper walls covered with classical paintings.  Thanks very much to Hajime Nishimura who brought this Nautilus to my attention.

The 2009 Library of Wonder edition of Jules Verne Extraordinary Voyages, published by Falls Press includes Nate Pride's illustrations of the Nautilus.  This design has a sleek spindle hull with double salon windows.  The ram is set high on the bow, and faired into a forward fin.  This fairing extends at the stern into streamlined vertical and horizontal fins.  The low wheelhouse sits just forward of a retractable lantern. 

John Martinez created this classic Nautilus.  The hull is a cylinder, tapered at the ends, with a brutal and massive triangular ram positioned above the centerline.  A rectangular window is set into the lower hull in the approximate salon location per the novel's text and dive planes at the centerline amidships.  There are horizontal fins on the after part of the hull and a large four-bladed prop at the end of the hull.  A rudder is set below the hull aft, although its details are not visible in Martinez' image.  A long, low deck atop the hull amidships has a modest pilothouse with a large circular port forward and two smaller ports on the sides.  In one image its profile is triangular but in another appears trapezoidal.  The launch is located at the center and a forward shining lantern at the aft end.  See a complete image of this Nautilus and another on the surface in John's gallery (as dragonpyper) at DeviantArt.

I don't know who designed this somewhat whimsical Nautilus, exhibited as a working, steam-powered, surface-running, radio-controlled model at the Cabin Fever Expo in York, Pennsylvania in January 2010.  The fishlike design features a spindle hull with fins galore.  There is a small organic, possibly spiral ram at the bow.  A small wheelhouse with two windows is set on the upper hull a good ways forward of the recessed deck.  The deck features a beefy periscope (actually the model's smokestack), railings on each side, and a circular hatch.  The tail fin terminates in the rudder, and there are two pairs of dive planes, one well forward of the circular salon window and the other pair well aft.  A small prop is mounted on the trailing edge of the aft-most ventral fin.  You can see several photos of the model at Vilseskogen's Cabin Fever Expo photo set on .

Mike Gonzales (AlphaRed6) posted his concept Nemo's second Nautilus at NautilusSubmarine.com.  He thinks it would have been a research vessel rather than a war machine, for as "Nemo aged his temper cooled, his thirst for revenge was sated".  Mike says the new Nautilus would be several times larger, but I've rendered his image at Verne's length.  The design is clearly recognizable as Harper Goff's classic concept even with the significant changes.  The ram is gone with a light mounted at the prow in its place.  The characteristic arch and rakers are all gone.  this Nautilus would suffer damage in a collision.  the original alligator eyes atop the wheel house now comprise Verne's lantern.  The barbed dorsal fin is gone from the longer deck, now adorned with railings.  the submarine now has two anchors to handle the longer hull, and finally the salon is much larger, with two pairs of windows.  Or perhaps the reformed Nemo has provided a lounge for his crew with the same outside view.

Chuck Messer sent me photos of his Nautilus model "inspired by the Verne novel and the look of several 19th century submarines, including the Hunley and the USS Alligator".  Chuck's design has a spindle hull with a long tapered ram strengthened  by three ribs to form a triangular cross-section.  There are large dive planes mounted a little forward of amidships, a circular salon window just aft, and long, narrow vertical and horizontal tail fins that end in a double rudder and additional planes.  A large four-bladed propeller is set at the very end of the hull.  The large wheelhouse has four small ports, the forward one between a double cutwater not unlike some of the early, inaccurate depictions of the Hunley.  The lantern structure is smaller, with two forward facing lights on each side of a single, more accurately Hunley-like cutwater.  The Hunley cutwaters were intended to prevent the hatch towers form hanging up on defensive cables.  here they provide protection in a ram attack.  The low deck between these structures has a launch set deep into the center.

Designer Tim Delaney of Walt Disney Imagineering created this updated version of Harper Goff's original Nautilus.  It appears to be closer in length to Verne  and otherwise moves the Nautilus technology into the next century.  Tim has retained the spar and raker arches almost unchanged but added vents to the lower forward hull.  The wheelhouse is much more streamlined and faired to a much larger dorsal fin giving a more organic appearance than the original.  The aft hatch may still be there but if so its construction is very different.  The lower diving hatch, if retained, is also very different.  The salon window frame is elongated and the tail fins longer and more streamlined.  The biggest change is in the propulsion technology.  Tim has replaced the prop with a jet system, including a smaller version on the keel and there may be maneuvering fans in the keel and lower fin.  See Delaney's full illustration on his web site.  (Thanks to Wade Watson on NautilusSubmarine.com.)

Jaime Campbell based this Nautilus design on some early drawings and his own ideas.  He sees the pilothouse as an integral part of the deck, sticking up just 4 or 5 feet above the actual deck level.  He locates the lantern and the boat on the deck as a single platform; the boat simply launches from the structure while submerged.  He places an additional 4-foot porthole in Nemo’s cabin.  Jaime keeps much of the the look of Harper Goff's bow except for the fore-mentioned changes and more barbing on the spar.  The salon window is closer to Verne's description, there is a single dive plane amidships, and the hull is longer, but otherwise retains a number of Goff's features. 
 

If Nemo had used steam power, Peter Pohle's steam-powered Steampunk Submarine could have been the Nautilus.  The spindle hull, made of distinctly non-Vernian wood, is very like Monturiol's Ictineo II.  It is reinforced with a steel frame and has a blunt but heavy-looking metal ram on the forward end.  There are dive planes located in the side frame a short distance aft of the prow and a second set is set in horizontal fins at the stern.  The large centerline nine-bladed propeller is protected by these fins and a vertical set that supports a large rudder.  In addition to the a large salon window approximately amidships, there are small observation domes near the bow and two rows of ports along the hull side. The forward end of the deck is decorated with an ornate Hippocampus figurehead.  A graceful raker arch, perhaps a nod to Harper Goff, protects the figurehead and a small observation dome.  The deck extends to an elaborate conning tower that incorporates a ship's-bridge-like wheelhouse at deck level and the steam plant with three capped smoke stacks, tall enough that the submarine could run submerged near the surface with operating boilers.  The stacks would be vulnerable in a full ram attack (as would be much of the superstructure) but could perhaps be retracted into the hull.  Peter's conception of the launch as a mini-submarine set into the deck aft of the power plant is only a minor extension of Verne's.  Peter has realized it as a small explorer submarine that very much reminds me of the excursion pods of 2001A Space Odyssey's Discovery.  Like Nemo's canot, it can be entered from within the main submarine via a hatch in its lower hull.  See more of this fascinating submarine on the Cornucopia3D web site.
     This design is available as a 3D model in both Vue and OBJ format (standard distribution) at Cornucopia-3D.

"Balsavor" (Aaron Godwin) posted this organic Nautilus at DeviantArt as a work-in-progress.  I see superficial similarity to Christian Zaber's above, but at the next level it is very different.  Rather than Goff's legacy sawtooth rakers, it has rows of small dorsal fins (although there may be rakers along the side), slightly reminiscent of the Michael Caine TV film version.  At least two large windows are visible.  The lower one surely is in the salon for underwater viewing.  If the upper one is for surface running it would be dramatically near the waterline and would place the lethal ram far above it.  The conical ribbon impeller screw, a little like Hansen's much larger versions, nicely complements the lines and interruptions of the design.  Overall the impression is dangerous but graceful.  See Godwin's full size image at DeviantArt.

This Nautilus by "Chrisz3D" is available as a 3D model at TurboSquid.  Described as "the old book version of Jules Verne's Nautilus", the design is mostly true to the novel with a few embellishments for visual interest.  The flat deck sits atop the hull amidships.  A four-sided wheelhouse with a viewport on each side is set at a 45-degree angle at the forward end.  The boat is set into the deck amidships with a circular hatch just aft.  The lantern housing at the aft end of the deck is slightly larger than the wheelhouse and has a large lens facing forward.  Large oval salon ports are placed slightly above the centerline just forward of rounded dive planes amidships.  There appears to be a diving hatch on the hull bottom.  The four-bladed prop is mounted at the afted end of the hull with the rudder affixed to a vertical ventral fin extending from the keel.  The hull appears to be a modified spindle with constant cross-section in the middle section and tapering end sections.  The cross-section is not circular, but has flattened sides.  The pointed ram slightly larger than and affixed to the prow, looks strong enough for a ram attack.  See some nice images of this Nautilus at TurboSquid.

Chuck Pfaff created a drawing of this true-to-the-novel Nautilus design.  There is a sturdy ram at the bow of the spindle hull and a large four-bladed propeller at the stern.  A double rudder is set in vertical tail fins.  The dive plane amidships is somewhat smaller than most.  A flat deck is centered atop the hull with a rectangular pilothouse with four large ports forward and a similar lantern structure aft.  Both are retractable.  The boat is set into the deck amidships.  There's an odd feature on lower hull that may be a dive hatch.  Chuck places two large oval windows in the forward hull.  One is shown with protective shutters closed.  See the original drawing on DeviantArt. 

Video game concept artist and illustrator Roberto Robert posted this Nautilus on his Robots blog.  It's a pleasingly sleek design.  Some details such as propulsion or steering are unclear or perhaps missing, but only noticeable on analysis.  There is no ram but the lower hull has a snaggle-tooth array of rakers. The archless wheelhouse is reminiscent of Goff's as is the salon window set high on the side.  Another snaggled construction farther astern on the upper hull recall Goff's dorsal fin.  The lower hull has an interesting large opening amidships, clearly associated with diving.  See Roberto's original artwork here. 

This Nautilus, called "The Streamliner" by UK modeler Alan Taylor ("unbuiltnautilus") is what I'd call a quick-&-dirty design, based on the hull of an Akula-class submarine.  It has the classic Goff silhouette with a much cleaner - streamlined - appearance.  There are no rakers on the arch or keel, and the side fins flare gracefully up to and away from the accurately positioned salon window.  The deck is designed from the novel with an angle-sided pilothouse somewhat aft of the arch, the boat set in the deck about halfway aft to to the forward-looking lantern housing.  There's a hatch just forward of the lantern.  The oval cutout in the keel is a style element shared with other Taylor designs.  The position of the dive control surfaces isn't obvious from the drawing, but because this was conceived as a working model, they would be functional.  See a drawing of this Nautilus beside the original Akula in this post by Alan on the Model Boat Mayhem web site (1st post).

Randolph Hess updated his original Nautilus (above) to better conform to the novel.  There are some minor changes, but the only significant one is the repositioning of the dive planes amidships.  As before, the wheelhouse and lantern retract for attack configuration as illustrated in the animation.

Described by "JIHS" as a steampunk Nautilus, the design is conceived as a giant squid, with the squid's tail to the left forming the bow, and the tentacles, eight tubes that appear to be part of the propulsion system, to the right, so that it actually sails "backwards", as a squid does when using its jet.  The tip of the tail forms a massive ram.  The tail fins just aft on the body appear to be for show only as control is achieved by several sets of fans set both horizontally in the body and and vertically as visible in the illustration.  There is a long, conning tower-like pilothouse on the deck, and large circular ports in the hull side.  This Nautilus is not so true to Verne's text, but I think true to its spirit.  You can download JIHS's SketchUp model at Google 3D Warehouse.
 

This Nautilus by Georgi Grigorov is available as a small resin model kit. The design is essentially the classic version.  The hull is a modified spindle with cylindrical midsection.  The four-sided wheelhouse is aligned so the ports face forward and back and to the sides.  The shape is slightly more complex than the standard pyramidal form.  The flat deck immediately aft of the wheelhouse has a rectangular hatchway followed by the boat.  There are several unexplained features probably added for interest.  The prism-shaped lantern is set in the hull just aft of the deck.  The images I've seen don't show a propeller but it would be situated at the very end of the hull, aft of the double triangle rudder.  The rudder is mounted at the end of a pair of vertical fins.  Trapezoidal dive planes are mounted amidships and there is a small circular salon window.  Grigorov has added a number of smaller portholes along the hull side.  See more about the kit, including some images here.

Artist Walter Plitt Quintin has posted several very nice illustrations of Jules Verne's Nautilus on his Illustrated Man blog.  Each of these is a little different so I've selected features from several for my graphic here.  The hull is more or less spindle-shaped although one version is more of a cylinder with tapered ends.  The elevated deck extends all the way to the bow and includes a set of rakers at the prow.  There is no spur or ram but the bow looks beefy enough for ramming.  Most versions include a cylindrical wheelhouse.  Two versions have the salon window located amidships but two place it further forward.  There is no sign of dive planes either amidships or forward, so they must be in the stern horizontal fins.  Finally the propeller has four blades.  None of the illustrations shows a clear rudder.  You can view Quintin's original art here, here, here, and here.  In 2012 he posted a new image showing side, top, and bottom views here.  This, again slightly different, design has a spindle-shaped hull and shows the rudder in the vertical tail fins and dive planes in the horizontal fins. 

You can find several images of Tomasz Niedzinski's classic Nautilus on DeviantArt.  The design, which is highly faithful to the novel, has a tapered spindle hull with a narrow spar.  There are large offset dive planes just forward of amidships and a gracefully sculptured fishtail fin.  The small spherical pilot house with three circular windows is set into the hull at the forward end of a raised deck.  A small lantern is located on the deck just aft of the pilothouse.  The boat is in the center of the deck forward of amidships.  The circular salon window is located on the lower hull just a bit forward of the pilothouse and there is a diving hatch in the keel about a third way aft of amidships.  The rudder, set in the tail aft of the five-bladed prop, resembles Goff's.  See images of this Nautilus on DeviantArt here, here, here, and here.  
 
Digital artist Zacharias Vaught began with the View-Master Nautilus above but his own design is very different.  The hull shape is similar, but the raker configuration is very different.  The sawtooth set atop the hull is interrupted by a deck as in the novel with a low wheelhouse forward, a lantern aft, and a boat and hatch between them.  The rectangular, panel-covered salon window is accurately placed.  Vaught has located diving hatches on the hull bottom between the exaggerated fins and hidden lights in the fins.  I like this fishlike design better than the View-Master original.  See the full-size drawing at DeviantArt.

Papercrafter "RocketmanTan" created this paper model version of the Nautilus.  He based his design on the original Hetzel-edition illustrations and Verne's text.  In his words, "the hull retains the 4:35 ratio as described, the ram is in the shape of an isosceles triangle, the salon window is towards the bow, the diving plane is amidships, and the pilothouse and light retract into the hull during ramming attacks. ... The hull proportions refer to the hull only" so that the ram and rudder are extra.  The rudder assembly is from the French submarine Plongeur, often mentioned as Verne's inspiration. You can download the paper model at Deviant Art.

UK modeler Alan Taylor ("unbuiltnautilus") has been tinkering with a working model Nautilus he calls "The Beast".  This is one version of that steampunky design.  The basic spindle hull is richly adorned with functional and perhaps decorative elements.  Starting with the narrow centerline ram we move aft to a nicely-conceived reversed raker arch linked to the keel.  The keel is fitted with a row of large rakers.  The  bow structure has a double row that continues along the upper hull to the slant-sided bridge.  It's not obvious from the drawing here, but the appearance of this Nautilus just awash on the surface would very much resemble the head of a monstrous crocodile - The Beast!  Just aft of the bridge is a more standard raker arch, intended to protect the open deck platform atop the aft superstructure.  Another arch protects the vertical tail.  Armor plates along the side of the hull protect the large salon window and a row of lights along the hull.  The three "tentacles" are exhaust pipes, the source of the spray streams described in the novel.  There are dive planes forward and aft of the armor structure.  Aft of the Taylor signature oval notch in the keel is a practical reversed lantern tower for under water viewing.  See drawings of this and other Nautilus designs by Alan, and a photo of a prototype model, posted on the Model Boat Mayhem web site (posts 40 & 43 toward the bottom of the page). 

"stince" modeled this somewhat elongated spindle-hulled Nautilus in SketchUp.  The ram appears to be an integral part of the hull.  A raised deck is located forward of amidships, with a complex wheelhouse at the forward end and a tall tower-mounted lantern at the aft end.  Neither appears to be retractable.  There is a large rectangular hatch near the center, but no sign of a boat.  Large dive planes are set on the hull just aft of the wheelhouse.  The rudder is located below the stern, supported by a narrow fin on the hull bottom.  A four-bladed propeller is attached to the very stern.  There is a diving hatch on the bottom below the center of the deck.  The design includes angled, elaborately grilled rectangular windows, shown in the detail at right.  The detail also shows the round, layered (possibly fresnel) glass ports and the paned window arrangement on the sides and top.  You can download stince's SketchUp model at Google 3D Warehouse.  The model includes a partial interior.
 
 

Game designer and illustrator "Omega2064" created this spindle-shaped Nautilus based some old notes on the novel.  The design follows the the text with a large oval salon window, diving plane amidships, and large four-bladed propeller.  The wheelhouse and lantern are stationary, with the lantern tower tall enough to illuminate the area ahead of the submarine.  The captain's boat is recessed into the hull between them.  Omega264 used a Giger-like pattern to simulate a monster's skin.  My graphic tones the skin pattern down; see the original artwork and read Omega2064's explanation on DeviantArt.

Alexander Sokornov (MsToft) has a very nice video of his Nautilus that you can view on here on .  His spindle-shaped design is true to Verne's text, although he has added a few embellishments.  The spar is similar to Humphries' or Dutton's and others but more graceful. The circular, slightly recessed salon window is correctly placed.  There are large diving planes placed amidships and horizontal fins at the stern that appear to be control surfaces.  They are mounted in an identical frame to that used for the double rudder.   The large, four-bladed propeller is set at the very end of the hull.  There is a large diving hatch on the hull bottom directly below the wheelhouse.  Most of the embellishments are to the details of the centrally located deck.  The deck arrangement is basically  as described in the novel, with the wheelhouse forward, the boat in the center, and the lantern aft, with a rail running most of the length.  Sokornov has constructed the lantern tower similarly to the wheelhouse, with view ports and placed the actual lantern atop the tower.  A second, larger lantern is mounted atop the wheelhouse.  A row of what might be ports or deadlights runs along each side of the hull along the edge of the deck.  The boat has a very interesting construction, looking almost like a small submarine and consistent with Nemo's description of its use.  MsToft has kindly allowed me to post some of his images here.

CG arts and animation student Daniel Rolph posted his Nautilus design on his DR Designs blog.  The bow of this Nautilus with its keel mounted ram reminds me some of a Roman galley.  There's not much of Jules Verne here but hints of Goff in the raker arch, anchor, and large wheelhouse window that resembles the 1956 salon window.  There are large rectangular ports in the forward hull that probably place the salon there.  Otherwise the design draws on more modern submarines.  There are forward and aft dive planes, two propellers low on the hull and tandem rudders at the stern.  The midships wheelhouse is more of a conning tower.  It even appears to have a periscope.  Not visible in my graphic, the large deck has a hatch at its aft end.  The forward end extends under the arch and includes a hatch there as well, another reference to Goff.  See Daniel's original art on his blog.
 

Artist Miles Teves has created more than half a dozen interesting Nautilus designs.  I especially like this one for its cross-references.  The shape is very much like Meinert Hansen's spiral screw designs (above) but Teves has reversed the concept, making the screw a rotating ram.  The flying raker arch emulates Ray Harryhausen's Mysterious Island Nautilus but with the wheelhouse integrated with the arch.  The salon window on the hull side is very large, but there is also a gondola on the hull bottom for underwater viewing.  The raker motif begins as a saw-tooth edge on the ram, continues along the arch, runs along the top and sides of the aft hull, the bottom of the gondola, and ends on the trailing edge of the extra large rudder.  
     The particular design pictured here is one of a closely related set of four.  One of these has a clearly separate spiral ram, leading me to believe it is intended to rotate.  It lacks the flying arch but has a graceful, almost filigreed framework on the hull.  Another is sturdier looking than the first two and the spiral ram is obviously fixed to the hull.  The flying arch is more subdued than that featured here and is partly mirrored by a barbed keel extension.  There are two or even four propellers.  The last of the four has reshaped the ram, integrating it more closely with the hull.  The deck is located farther aft and may include a boat.  The salon window of each is sized, positioned and configured differently.  None show obvious dive planes.  See Teves' original large drawing of this set and other Nautilus designs (and his other art) on his web site.  I plan to feature more of these.

This is  Jean-Paul Denis's design for the Nautilus that Nemo first built.  After his escape he wished to live a peaceful, isolated life, exploring the sea.  The spindle-hull design features a cutwater at the bow, to ease travel on the surface through ice or other impediments.  There is a low wheelhouse at the forward end of the deck with the lantern mounted atop it just aft of the windows.  There is a hatch aft of the wheelhouse with the boat in the deck approximately amidships.  A large eight-bladed propeller is located at the stern.  The rudder is mounted on the hull bottom just forward of the prop.  The dive hatch is on the hull bottom about half way to amidships.  Triangular dive planes located just aft of amidships are small, but there are much larger surfaces on each side of the stern.  The large circular salon windows are protected by a light framework.  There is a covered anchor port and cooling water intakes for the electric equipment forward of the window.

Jean-Paul Denis suggests that Nemo, now being hunted by the "hated nation", modified the Nautilus while making repairs for damage suffered in the Maelstrom.  The basic functional design is unchanged, but he reinforced and armored the cutwater to make it a much more effective ram.  Dorsal and ventral "barbs" were added to the hull to protect fittings and to cause more target damage during a ramming attack.  The salon window guards are now heavy-duty and the stern has been significantly modified both to protect the propeller and to provide better stabilization.  The result is a much more aggressive, warlike appearance.

Gerard Duffy (Taranis) more or less followed the novel, retaining a version of the arch and much of the wheelhouse from Harper Goff's classic design.  As for so many of us, the Disney film was his introduction to Jules Verne.  Duffy's Nautilus is near-cylindrical - the cross-section is a polygon, similar to Goff's - with tapered ends.  Although an early version lacked one, the final sub has a cruciform spar. The vertical and horizontal fairings of Goff's design are retained, minus the rakers, and further modified.  The horizontal fairing flairs out forward of the salon window to contain large dive planes.  The window has external panels that slide together for protection, as described in the novel.  A narrow fairing resumes after the window and then flairs out again near the stern to accommodate a second set of planes.  The large four-bladed propeller is protected by a short cylindrical shroud with a large rudder astern.  The notch in the keel fairing, like Goff's, contains the diving hatch.  The forward arch is cantilevered over the wheelhouse, rather than attached, and Goff's alligator-eye lights are relocated to the deck well forward of the wheelhouse.  The deck runs straight back from the main hatch just aft of the wheelhouse, but flairs out to a circular platform amidships, resuming its narrow shape along the stern and ending at what appears to be a small lantern located on the forward edge of the blunt vertical fin.  The boat is set in the aft part of the flared-out deck.  See some very nice renderings of Duffy's early Nautilus on his blog here and here, and the completed model here.

Le Regard Sonore Productions designed this fish-like Nautilus for their app and eBook edition of 20,000 Leagues under the Sea. The shark-like prow lacks a toothy mouth, but uses shark's teeth for a chainsaw line of rakers along the top of the bow.  The salon window serves as the shark's eye and the dive planes are set forward as rather small ventral fins.  The small portholes aft of the salon window call to mind a shark's gills.  The fish imagery extends to the tailfin shape of the stern and rudder.  There is a relatively small propeller located below the hull.  The wheelhouse and lantern rise very little from the hull top and are likely depicted withdrawn.  Watch a short video of this Nautilus on .  (Thanks to MsToft for telling me about this design.)  

Once more reworking his Nautilus, Frank Chase has added a 19th century look.  He's returned the ram to the hull centerline and restored the small saw-tooth rakers of his original design, above.  A small Goff-honoring arch protects the wheelhouse, enlarged from the previous design.  Frank has moved the lantern forward of the boat.  The boat itself is set inverted into the deck slightly to port, and mounted to a frame that rotates it to the water, similarly to the arrangement at the bottom of my Dinghy page.  The deck hatches are next to the boat on the starboard side of the deck.  Frank has completely reworked the stern, making it more graceful and fish-like.  You can see details of the new deck on Frank's evolving Virtual Nautilus page using the "5-Sytem schematics and exterior views" link.

Imagining how Nemo might have changed the Nautilus if he and it had survived the destruction of his Vulcania base at the end of the 1954 movie, Tom Martin (vismus) came up with this variation on Harper Goff's iconic design.  Tom has lowered the profile of the wheelhouse and continued the raker arch over its top.  He's moved the "alligator eye" lights from the top of the wheelhouse to the deck aft of the forward hatch and just forward of the large ports.  The dorsal just forward of the deck hatch is gone and a new set of deck rails, not unlike those in Goff's original concept model is added. He's replaced the bulb-nosed ram with a simple triangular cross-section spar as Verne described it in the novel. Tom also made a few less obvious changes such as adding dive lights to the lower hull.  I think Harper would like it.  Tommie has kindly allowed me to post some of his images here.

Do you know of a Nautilus design not featured here?  Please e-mail me.

According to Jerry Pavano, Gustav Zédé constructed this interesting model "in collaboration with Jules Verne" in 1868.  Maybe not, but if the date, a year before Verne wrote 20,000 Leagues under the Sea, is accurate, this model might have been a forerunner to the Nautilus.  Although considerably smaller, it has the cigar shape, the central diving planes, longboat, wheelhouse, lantern, and deck platform of the Nautilus.  The boat is at the aft end of the platform and the lantern is located on a tower just behind the wheelhouse, an arrangement I find especially interesting.  The model also has two metal rings on the deck, apparently on the hatch. Aronnax and his companion castaways clung to just such a ring when the Nautilus deck when it got underway early in the novel.  There are no side windows or ram and the keel is very large relative to the hull. Jerry has written an article about this model for the Subcommittee Report.  
See photos of my scratch-built replica and other views of my 3D Zédé model here.