The French novelist Jules Verne mentions Dubrovnik in his novel Mathias Sandorf (1885). The description is vivid and interesting. He gathered his knowledge of ships and maritime themes in the City library in Amiens, France, and also from about fifty daily newspapers and magazines that he read on a daily basis. He had three yachts and aboard them he visited a number of places in the Mediterranean, which inspired him to start writing this novel (he confessed) during his two family trips. After the Berlin Congress (1878) he could have been acquainted with the foreign fleet gathered in Gruz (1880) or with the ships that had previously arrived, both before and after the Herzegovina uprising (1875 - 1878).

Francuski pisac Jules Verne u svom romanu Matijaš Sandorf (1885.) spominje i Dubrovnik. Opis je živopisan i zanimljiv, a za Verneovo poznavanje brodova i pomorske tematike zaslužna je i Gradska knjižnica u Amiensu u Francuskoj te pedesetak dnevnih novina i časopisa kojima se dnevno služio. Posjedovao je ukupno tri jahte kojima je obišao dosta mediteranskih krajeva, što je rezultiralo i nadahnućem za ovaj roman (po vlastitom priznanju) tijekom dvaju obiteljskih mediteranskih putovanja. Susljedno je nakon Berlinskog kongresa (1878.) mogao znati za flotu stranih država okupljenu u Gružu (1880.) ili prethodno pristigle ratne brodove, kako prije tako i nakon bosansko-hercegovačkog ustanka (1875. – 1878.) i dr.