"...A dirtier or more wretched place he had never seen. The street was very narrow and muddy, and the air was impregnated with filthy odours. There were a good many small shops; but the only stock in trade appeared to be heaps of children, who, even at that time of night, were crawling in and out at the doors, or screaming from the inside. The sole places that seemed to prosper amid the general blight of the place, were the public houses; and in them, the lowest orders of Irish were wrangling with might and main. Covered ways and yards, which here and there diverged from the main street, disclosed little knots of houses, where drunken men and women were positively wallowing in filth; and from several doorways, great ill-looking fellows were cautiously emerging, bound, to all appearance, on no very well-disposed or harmless errands."
– Oliver Twist's first impressions of London upon his entry to the city in the company of the Artful Dodger, The Adventures of Oliver Twist, by Charles Dickens

Gentle Reader, welcome to London, the largest city in the world. It is April, 1870, and Britannia rules the waves. The other great powers in Europe are Russia, France, Prussia, and the Ottoman Empire. Victoria has been Queen for just over 30 years, although she has been in mourning since the death of Prince Albert in 1861, she has recently begun to resume her public duties. Steam is the prime mover of this age. Most industry is driven by steam while gaslights illuminate most houses. Electricity is used in a variety of interesting ways, but is still often thought of as a novelty or even dangerous.

It is believed by most that science and technology (created by stout-hearted and ingenious men) will continue to make the world a better place. Others warn of the injustices brought on by this industrial age, and urge their fellow citizens to turn to older, more natural ways.

It is not yet a perfect world. British society is stratified along lines of class, race, sex, and religion. Only a small fraction of the population has the right to vote. Millions still toil in difficult and dangerous jobs for a pittance.

But adventure awaits the courageous man or woman who is willing to take risks and reach for their dreams. You are invited to join those adventures. What wonders of super science or the supernatural await the daring adventurers who will join this enterprise?

There is only one way to find out...

A brief orientation

• The Crimean war ended about 15 years ago with victory of Britain and her allies (France, Sardinia, Turkey) over Russia. It was an exceedingly bloody war, leaving many veterans crippled and maimed. The disastrous charge of the Light Brigade happened during this war, and Florence Nightingale became famous organizing nursing corps.
• The most sensational news of the last two years has been the reign of terror of Nemo, the science pirate. Between 1866 and 1868 he sunk over 200 ships. It is reported that he and his infernal submarine were destroyed in a maelstrom in the north sea in May of 1868.
• The German Confederation was recently broken up by the Seven Weeks War. Prussia has emerged as the leading power in the new Northern German Confederation, while Austria, Bavaria, Baden, Hesse, and Württemburg are once again independent states.
• The American civil war (or, as most Britains refer to it, "The recent unpleasantness") ended five years ago. Relations between Britain and the U.S. were strained by Britain's neutrality during the civil war, but they are warming slowly.
• Over the last two years, since the Mikado, Meiji, ended the shogunate and realigned Japanese government, commerce between Japan and the west has vastly accelerated.
• The telegraph is the fastest way to communicate, though it can be expensive. It is possible to sent a telegram from London to Australia and receive a reply in less than nine hours. In Great Britain, mail is delivered several times a day (seven times per day in London itself) and is both reliable and inexpensive.
• Germany does not exist as a single nation state. The Italian kingdoms are even less unified than the Germans. Tsarist Russia is usually considered the greatest threat to British power.
• Sherlock Holmes is a 16-year-old school boy in Yorkshire. He is not in the slightest bit famous and won't be for some years to come. His brother, Mycroft, is a 23-year-old accountant in the office of the Exchequer. He is also not a bit famous. John Watson is a promising rugby player at Blackheath, and has not yet entered medical school.

A selected chronology of things historical, scientific, and noteworthy
(Remember, this is an alternate history, some of these events happened differently in our world)

1803

War begins between Britain and France.

1804

The first steam locomotive in the world hauls 10 tons of coal, 70 persons, and 5 wagons of trade goods 9.4 miles out of Merthyr Tydfil, Wales.

Napoleon Bonaparte proclaimed Emperor Napoleon I of France.

Austria, Russia, and Sweden join Britain in war on France; Spain joins on France's side, initiating the Napoleonic Wars, which over the next eleven years engulf all of Europe.

Nelson wins the Battle of Trafalgar, breaking the naval power of Spain and France, October 21. Nelson dies of wounds received in the battle.

1807

Gas lights first introduced in London.

1811

George III declared insane. The Prince of Wales named Regent.

1814

Napoleon abdicates April 11, proclaiming his infant son Emperor Napoleon II. Napoleon is granted the island of Elba as a sovereign principality and exiled there. The infant Emperor and his mother are placed in the custody of her father, King Francis I of Austria.

Louis XVIII restored to the French throne.

1815

Napoleon marches on Paris, seizing control March 20.

The Duke of Wellington, leading a combined army of Austria, Britain, Prussia, and Russia, defeats Napoleon decisively at Waterloo, June 18.

The Treaty of Vienna concluded between participants in the Napoleonic wars. Napoleon is taken to the island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic and held prisoner under close supervision. The French chamber of representatives acknowledge Napoleon II as ruler of France in name only. He remains a prisoner in Austria until his death in 1832.

1820

George III dies, January 29. His son, the Regent, succeeds him as George IV.

1821

Napoleon dies of stomach cancer, May 5.

1823

Charles Babbage receives a Gold Medal from the Astronomical Society for articles describing a Difference Engine - a calculating machine. The Royal Society recommends government funding of Babbage's project. Before the end of the year, Babbage reports receiving a grant from the Lord of the Exchequer. He assembles a team to build the engine.

1826

Mary Fairfax Somerville publishes "The Magnetic Properties of the Violet Rays of the Solar Spectrum" based on experiments she performed in her home. The paper is later regarded as pivotal to the development of etheric science.

1827

Nicéphore Niepce makes the first camera image.

1830

George IV dies June 26 and is succeeded by his brother, William IV.

Sir Charles Lyell publishes The Principles of Geology assembling all the known facts about fossils and evidence of changes in the earth.

1831

Michael Faraday demonstrates electro-magnetic induction.

1832

Failure of the House of Lords to pass the third Reform Act passed by the commons, which was intended to reduce corruption and more equitably distribute parliamentary seats, caused rioting throughout the country. Under pressure from the king, Lords opposed to the reforms simply withdrew, allowing the Act to pass without their votes.

Samuel F. B. Morse developed the first practical electric telegraph.

1833

Slavery was abolished in all British colonies.

1836

Samuel Colt invents the revolver.

1837

William IV died June 20. He was succeeded by his young niece, Victoria.

1839

The Chartist Movement, made up of trade unionists and radical middle class members, demanded universal (male) sufferage, vote by secret ballot, and other reforms to the electoral system. When their petitions were ignored by Parliament, rioting broke out in many cities, climaxing in the Newport riot, where constables fired upon the crowd, killing 20 on November 4.

The Opium War begins in China, November 3.

Charles Goodyear discovers process of vulcanizing rubber.

1840

Queen Victoria weds her cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, February 10.

Victoria Adelaide, Princess Royal, born November 21 to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.

Augusta Ada Byron King, Countess Lovelace, publishes "Observations on Mr. Babbage's Analytic Engine" - a paper describing how to program algorithms into an analytic engine.

1841

Prince Albert Edward, eldest son of Queen Victoria, born November 9.

1843

French astronomer Leverrier calculates probably orbit of a trans-Uranic planet.

Princess Alice Maud born to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, April 25.

1844

Prince Alfred born to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, August 6.

1846

Acting on Leverrier's calculations, German astronomer Galle locates the planet Neptune.

Princess Helena is born to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, May 25.

1848

Prince Louis Napoleon Bonaparte becomes President of the French Republic, December 20.

1850

Prince Arthur born to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, May 1.

1851

First demonstration of an electric locomotive ends in a disastrous explosion, killing about fifty people in the village of Letchworth, England.

The Great Exhibition in Hyde Park, organized by Prince Albert, included exhibits from all nations and was the first of its kind.

Ceremonies investing Prince Albert Edward with the title Prince of Wales are the object of more public outpouring of support of the monarchy. From this time forward the prince is addressed formally by his middle name, usually as Edward, Prince of Wales.

1852

Henri Gifford, a french engineer, flew a hydrogen-filled, propellor driven dirigible over Paris.

After over two years of unrest, revolts, attempted coups, and two constitutional convocations, Louis Napoleon, nephew of Napoleon, is proclaimed Emperor of France as Napoleon III.

1853

Prince Leopold born to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, April 7.

1854

The Crimean War begins, March 28. Britain and her allies, France, Sardinia, and Turkey, fight Russia over the Czar's demand to be named protector of Christians and Holy Places within the Turkish Empire, and his subsequent invasion of Wallachia and Moldavia. The Light Brigade won undying fame for its valiant, but suicidal, charge in defense of the British base at Balaklava, October 25. By November, British and French forces had encircled Sevastopol.

1855

The Russians surrender Sevastopol, December 8 after a long siege. Bombardment from French steerable balloons was considered decisive in the battle.

1856

The Crimean War ends with the signing of the Treaty of Paris, March 30. The treaty guarantees Turkey control over internal affairs, all parties are banned from maintaining military bases on the shores of the Black Sea, Russia returns all captured territory to Turkey and cedes additional territory, and all nations are granted free navigation of the Danube.

Henry Bessemer develops the Bessemer process of making steel.

1857

Princess Beatrice born to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, July 23.

The Indian Mutiny begins when sepoy battalions of the British army revolt at Meerut, May 10. The uprising spreads through north and central India. The massacre of Cawnpore occurs June 27. The Siege of Delhi begins in June and ends with the capture of the city September 25. The Bahadur Shah is banished and the Mogul Empire ceases to exist.

War with China begins with the British seizure of Canton in retaliation of the burning and sinking of H.M.S. Arrow. France joins the hostilities as an ally of the British.

Development of the dry colodion process makes amateur photography possible.

1858

Princess Victoria Adelaide marries Prince Frederick (nephew of King Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia), January 25.

The Treaties of Tientsin bring hostilities in China to an end, June 29.

The India Bill ends the British East Indian's political control of India and brings the government of India under control of the crown, granting Victoria the title Empress of India, August 2.

Prince Alfred enters the Royal Navy as a midshipman.

1859

Leverrier calculates possible orbits for a planet within Mercury's orbit. Fellow frenchman Dr. Lesaurbault presents notes of possible observation of said planet during observations made in 1846.

China refuses to admit diplomats to Peking, in violation of the Treaties of Tientsin, June 25. British attack the Taku forts.

Prince Albert Edward becomes the first Prince of Wales ever to attend Oxford as an undergraduate.

Charles Darwin publishes The Origin of Species.

1860

17,000 British and French troops occupy Peking, October 12. The summer palace is burned. Peking Conventions signed with Britain (October 24) and France (October 25) grant indemnities and allow missionaries to purchase land. Separate treaty signed with Russia November 14 cedes territory; Vladivostok founded.

Oliver F. Winchester introduces the repeating rifle.

1861

The Prince-Consort dies, December 14. The Queen goes into mourning and withdraws from most public functions.

1862

The first clash of ironclad warships, the U.S.S. Monitor and the C.S.S. Virginia, March 9.

In Britain, astronomer Horace Ogilvy locates the planet Vulcan, precisely where predicted by Leverrier, orbiting one-third the distance from the sun as Mercury.

Princess Alice marries Prince Louis of Hesse, July 1.

Otto von Bismarck appointed president of the Prussian council of ministers.

Richard J. Gatling invents the machine gun.

1863

The first use of torpedo boat in combat, the C.S.S. David damaged the U.S.S. New Ironsides in Charleston harbor, October.

The first use of steam-powered war wagons as the Union deploys the armored vehicles during the Chatanooga campaign, November 23. Confederate soldiers fled the battlefield by the hundred after initial contact with the infernal machines, but limitations of the war wagons in negotiating rough terrain, plus frequent mechanical failures, make the War Wagon's ultimate contribution to the war negligible.

In New York, British army officer, Major Thomas W. Lion, trains the New York Rocket Brigade in the use of rocket batteries.

In London, the first underground train line is opened, connecting Bishop's Road to Farrington Street by steam-powered locomotive.

The Prince of Wales marries Princess Alexandra, eldest daughter of King Christian IX of Denmark.

1864

Prince Albert Victor is born to Edward, Prince of Wales and Princess Alexandra at Frogmore Estate at Windsor, January 8.

The first Confederate submarine, the Hunley, torpedoed and sank the U.S.S. Housatonic in Charleston harbor, February 17. Subsequent missions by the south's small submarine fleet are less successful.

Union rocket batteries are deployed for the first time in the Battle of Spotsylvania, May.

1865

Prince George Frederick is born to Edward, Prince of Wales and Princess Alexandra at Marlborough House, London, June 3.

William Bullock invents the web press.

1866

Transatlantic cable successfully laid. Prof. William Thomson of Glasgow University is knighted for his work perfecting the cable and telegraphic equipment.

The Seven Weeks War precipitated when Prussia invades the Denmark-aligned german duchy of Holstein. During the resulting war between German states, Princess Alice, daughter of Queen Victoria, founds the Central Ladies' Nursing Union and personally nurses wounded Hessian and Austrian troops, even though she is pregnant with her third child during the war. Coincidentally, her child is born the same day Prussian troops, commanded by her brother-in-law, Prince Frederick, enters the capital city of Hesse.

The peace treaty settling the Seven Weeks War abolishes the German Confederation, replacing it with a North German Confederation and leaving Austria, Baden, Bavaria, Hesse, and Württemburg as independent states. The King of Prussia is named the hereditary ruler of the North German Confederation, a bicarmel parliament is established, and Bismarck is named Chancellor of the Confederation.

Starting in July, newspapers around the world begin reporting mysterious sightings of a fast-moving sea creature or object which damages several ships. Some newspaper accounts make mention of a slightly higher rate of ships reported lost at sea.

Princess Helena marries Prince Christian of Schleswigg-Holstein-Sonderberg-Augustenburg, July 5.

Prince Arthur enters the Royal Naval Academy.

English chemist John Alexander Reina Newlands arranged the known elements in order of increasing atomic weights, and noted that this arrangement also placed the properties of the elements into at least a partial order.

1867

British astronomer Robert Proctor publishes a map of Mars made using a new, larger telescope. Sir William Huggins reports detecting oxygen and water vapor in the spectrograph of Mars. French astronomer Janssen publishes independent report of the same discovery almost simultaneously.

In March the mysterious sea-creature pierces the hull of a Canadian ocean liner. Thanks to favorable winds and the compartmentalized ship design, the vessel barely returns to port before sinking. In April a British frigate's iron-plating is pierced by the same creature, leaving a yard-wide triangular hole in the hull. Lloyd's of London announces its estimate that approximately 200 ships may have been sunk with no survivors during the preceding 12 months. In April many newspaper carry an article by Pierre Arronax, Professor of Natural History at the University of Paris (visiting the U.S. on a lecturing tour), arguing that the sea creature is a giant narwhale.

The U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln, outfitted with special equipment, her crew supplemented with a renowned Canadian harpooner and the now-famous Professor Arronax, steams out of New York harbor under orders to find and kill the giant narwhal, July 6.

Parliament passes another Reform Act, expanding the right to vote slightly by allowing heads of households who rent substantial lodgings the same right to vote as property owners.

1868

Anglo-Indian troops under the command of Sir Robert Napier invade Ethiopia, which is in the midst of a bloody civil war, rescue European traders, diplomats and missionaries (some of whom had been held prisoner since 1862), defeat the forces of Emperor Theodore, then withdraw, leaving the country to fall into anarchy.

In early May, the Imperial Japanese government informs the American ambassador that the wreckage of the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln has washed ashore on the island of Kyushu. No survivors were found. The ship had not been seen since August 30 of the previous year.

Newspapers in Copenhagen begin publishing a story entitled "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea," in serialized form on July 14. The story claims to be the true account of Prof. Peirre Arronax and his nearly year-long adventure as a captive of Captain Nemo, the owner and inventor of a fabulous submarine. As the news spreads, the Danish government confirms that three people, claiming to be members of the doomed Lincoln expedition, were rescued from the sea by fisherman in the extreme north sea. Soon papers across Europe and around the world are carrying to story of Nemo, the science-pirate, and his deadly submarine, the Nautilus. By September, the professor and his servant have returned to Paris.

The Sholes typewriter is first put into commercial use.

1869

Ogilvy publishes monograph describing polar ice caps on Mars which grow and shrink with the seasons. Proctor publishes monograph describing areas on Mars which appear to be vast areas of vegetation changing with the seasons.

Emperor Napoleon III personally christens L'Aiglon, the first of the new class of aerial frigates.

The Suez Canal opens, November 16.

Introduction of refrigeration in railway transportation. First color photography.

1870

Franco-Prussian War last

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Portions of this page copyright 2001, 2005 by Gene Breshears. All Rights Reserved. The Adventures of Oliver Twist was written in the 19th Century by Charles Dickens and is an excellent book. In fact, everything Dickens wrote is excellent. Of course if you need me to tell you that, you are in a world of hurt, intellectually. Read a book! Smallwood's 8-day, 16-face clock first published in Scientific American, 1892.