The Count of Monte Cristo

Dantès Purchases a Genoese Yacht

After parting ways with the smugglers’ crew, Dantès travels to Genoa, where he discovers a small yacht under trial in the bay. Built to an Englishman’s order by Genoese craftsmen renowned for their shipbuilding skill, the vessel is priced at forty thousand francs. Enamored of its beauty and capability, Dantès offers the owner sixty thousand francs for immediate possession—a proposal too advantageous to refuse, especially as the intended English buyer is traveling in Switzerland and won’t return for weeks.

Dantès Installs Secret Yacht Compartments

When the yacht’s builder offers to provide a crew, Dantès politely declines, claiming he prefers sailing alone. Instead, he commissions a secret compartment in the cabin’s sleeping area, divided into three concealed sections known only to himself. The builder cheerfully undertakes the commission, completing the work the following day according to Dantès’s precise specifications.

Dantès Transfers Treasure to Yacht Lockers

Dantès sails the yacht from Genoa to Monte Cristo, completing the thirty-five-hour journey in impressive time. Upon arrival, he anchors in a secluded creek and spends the following day transferring his immense treasure from the cave to the yacht’s newly constructed secret compartments. By nightfall, his entire fortune is safely deposited within the locked divisions of his vessel.

Jacopo Returns with Grim News

After a week of maneuvering and familiarizing himself with the yacht’s capabilities, Dantès spots Jacopo’s vessel approaching the island. However, the news Jacopo brings is devastating: Old Dantès is dead, and Mercédès has disappeared. Dantès receives this information with outward calmness but requests solitude. When he returns two hours later, he orders the yacht steered directly to Marseilles, privately devastated by the loss of both his father and his beloved.