ANCIENT SCIENCE FICTION: UNDERWATER HOUSE (1899)

UNDERWATER HOUSE (1899) – Written by Frank Bailey Millard, this short story was first published in the March 1899 issue of The Black Cat magazine.

Frederick Vining, a brilliant young scientist from a wealthy family, has established a base on a South Pacific island. He hires the local Kau people to construct his latest passion – a house at the bottom of a bowl-shaped valley.

The house is being designed to endure underwater when Vining diverts a nearby river to flood the valley. During the months of construction, Fred writes regularly to his fiancee Marcia Tait back in America.

When the Underwater House is completed, Marcia will come to the island to marry him and live with him in the subaquatic home. Vining is our main character, but not a hero by any means. He passes the time by having an affair with Malia, a local native woman. 

Fred’s Underwater House withstands the planned flooding of the valley and rests at the bottom of the artificial lake. Vining has a tunnel which connects to a subterranean passageway that leads to the beach along the lake. It is his means of coming and going to the Underwater House.

The subaquatic mansion is futuristic and packed with several of Vining’s inventions that make it almost a “smart home.” During quiet times he hangs out in a lounge with one entire wall made of nothing but glass so he can relax and watch the fish swim around.

Marcia has not arrived yet, but otherwise things are going well. Too well, as it turns out, because the enemies of the Kau people, the Tongans from an island to the south, declare a new war on their old enemies and launch an amphibious invasion of the island with Vining’s Underwater Home on it.

Fred supervises his employees in setting up military defenses in preparation for the attack. His genius had even enabled the construction of torpedo-launchers built into the shoreline for just such an emergency. The Kau and Tonga are also armed with 1890s guns. 

Unknown to Vining, Toli, one of the natives on his staff, is really a Tongan who was taken prisoner during a Kau vs Tonga war years before Fred came to the island. Toli hopes for a chance to betray his captors and help the Tongan side win the impending conflict.

The day of the invasion arrives and the story moves into high gear. Fred Vining sits in his Underwater House using his futuristic video screens to watch the battle while he plays general from his cozy subaquatic mansion.

There’s almost a video game feel to the proceedings as Vining calls the shots from his sofa, watching things unfold on his viewscreen, sometimes pressing buttons which remotely set off land mines that he has scattered around the island.

SPOILERS AHEAD.

Thanks to Fred’s technology, the Kau are victorious and drive away the Tongans. Unfortunately, Toli now strikes treacherously, blocking Vining’s tunnel to keep him trapped in the Underwater House and opening holes which let the lake water come flooding in.

The devoted Malia sacrifices her life to save the undeserving Fred Vining, who feels some pricking of his conscience. No longer willing to live in the Underwater House, he soon blows it up and plans to live with Marcia in a new mansion on a nearby hill. 

This story seemed like it might be going places but instead just sputtered along to its conclusion. The sci-fi highlight, of course, was the advanced technology that Vining invented to make his Underwater House work.

The viewscreen and remote weaponry were interesting touches, too, but the Underwater House ultimately seemed like just a vanity project for Fred and other rich people to enjoy. And it certainly wasn’t practical.

Luckily, Underwater House was just a short story and didn’t take up much of my time. There was some potential here, but Millard failed to carry through.