# The Devil Boat explained — Toilers of the Sea

> Chapter companion for Toilers of the Sea by Victor Hugo.

## What happens

This chapter provides a detailed technical description of Lethierry's steamboat, the 'Devil Boat,' including its construction, dimensions, engine, and sailing characteristics. It highlights the vessel's strengths and weaknesses, its commercial success, and Lethierry's pride in his creation, which made weekly voyages between Guernsey and St. Malo.

## Themes in this chapter

### Superstition vs. Progress

The 'Devil Boat' nickname and Lethierry's exclamation about science taking the sea reflect the tension between traditional maritime superstition and the advance of steam technology.

### The Sublime and Terrible Ocean

The detailed description of the vessel's design for navigating the sea, including its vulnerabilities to waves and wind, underscores the ocean's power and the human attempt to master it.

## Character check-ins

### Mess Lethierry

Builder and owner of the 'Devil Boat'; praised for his skill in shipbuilding and stowage, and for his pride in the vessel's launch on July 14.

## Key lines

> On that day, mounted upon the bridge between the two paddle-boxes, looked Lethierry upon the sea, and exclaimed, 'It is your turn now! The Parisians took the Bastille, now science takes the sea.'

Standing on the bridge of his steamboat on its launch day, Lethierry declared that just as the people of Paris had stormed the Bastille, science was now conquering the ocean.

_Highlights Lethierry's pride and the theme of progress._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/toilers_of_the_sea_se/chapters/v-the-devil-boat
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/toilers_of_the_sea_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/toilers_of_the_sea_se/chapters