Summary of the novel - Dick Sand, A Captain at Fifteen · 1878

Jules Verne is a famous French writer, creator of a new genre - science fiction. Reading his books, you can mentally travel in amazing worlds, visit mysterious islands, descend into the depths of the ocean, go into space. For many years the great writer created images of noble and fearless captains, explorers, travelers, seafarers. With many of his works he predicted scientific inventions and discoveries: flying into space, the appearance of television, scuba gear. With his books he encouraged romantics to explore the planet Earth.

For all his life, Jules Verne has written 20 novels, as many as 63 novels, and dozens of plays and stories. He was awarded the most honorable at that time awards - the Grand Prize of the French Academy, falling into the number of "immortals."

January 29, 1873 schooner-brig "Pilgrim", equipped for whaling, goes on a voyage from the port of Oleanda, New Zealand. Onboard there are the brave and experienced captain Gul, five experienced sailors, the fifteen-year-old sailor-sailor Dick Send, the ship Negro, and the wife of the owner of Pilgrim James Weldon-Mrs. Weldon, with her five-year-old son Jack, her queer relative, Cousin Benedict ", and the old nurse Negro Nan. The sailer keeps going to San Francisco with a stop at Valparaiso. After a few days of swimming, little Jack notices in the ocean the vessel "Valdek" overturned on the side with a hole in the nose. In it, the sailors find five emaciated blacks and a dog named Dingo. It turns out that the Negroes: Tom, a sixty-year old man, his son Bath, Austin, Actaeon and Hercules are free citizens of the United States. After completing the contract for a plantation in New Zealand, they returned to America. After the collision of the "Waldeck" with another ship, all crew members and the captain disappeared and they were left alone. They are sent on board the Pilgrim, and after a few days of attentive care of them they completely restore their strength. Dingo, according to them, the captain of the "Waldeck" picked up off the coast of Africa. At the sight of Negoro the dog, for some strange reason, begins to roar savagely and expresses its readiness to attack it. Negoro prefers not to show his eyes to the dog, which, apparently, recognized him.

A few days later, Captain Gul and five sailors who dared to take a boat to catch a whale, seen by them a few miles from the ship, perish. Dick Send, who remained on the ship, assumes the functions of the captain. The Negroes are trying, under his leadership, to learn sailors' craft. With all his courage and inner maturity, Dick does not possess all navigational knowledge and knows how to navigate the ocean only by compass and lot, measuring the speed of movement. Find the location of the stars, he does not know how, and uses Negoro.

He breaks one compass and discreetly changes the second readings. Then it breaks the lot. His machinations contribute to the fact that instead of America the ship arrives to the coast of Angola and throws it ashore. All travelers are safe. Negoro discreetly leaves them and leaves in an unknown direction. After some time, Dick Send, who went on a quest for a settlement, meets an American, Harris, who, being in collusion with Negoro, his old acquaintance, and assuring that the travelers are on the shores of Bolivia, lures them for a hundred miles into the rainforest, promising shelter and care for your brother's huts.

Over time, Dick Send and Tom realize that they were not in an unknown way in South America, but in Africa. Harris, guessing about their insight, hides in the forest, leaving the travelers alone, and goes to a pre-arranged meeting with Negoro. From their conversation, the reader becomes clear that Harris is engaged in the slave trade, Negoro has also known this industry for a long time, until the authorities of Portugal, where he came from, for this activity, sentenced him to life imprisonment. Having stayed on it for two weeks, Negoro escaped, got a cocoon at the Pilgrim and waited for a suitable opportunity to get back to Africa. Dick's inexperience played into his hands, and his plan was carried out much earlier than he dared to hope. Not far from the place where he meets with Garris, there is a caravan of slaves, which goes to Kazonda to a fair under the leadership of one of their acquaintances. The caravan is encamped ten miles from the location of the travelers, on the banks of the Kwanza River.

Knowing Dick Senda, Negoro and Harris rightly assume that he decides to bring his people to the river and go down to the ocean on a raft. There they are supposed to grab them. Finding the disappearance of Harris, Dick understands that there was a betrayal, and decides along the banks of the creek to reach a larger river. On the way a thunderstorm and a ferocious rainstorm, from which the river comes out of the coast and rises for several pounds above the ground level, overtake them. Before the rain, travelers get into an empty termite quarry, which is twelve feet high. In a huge anthill with thick clay walls they wait out a thunderstorm. However, when they get out of there, they immediately fall into captivity. The Negroes, Nan and Dika are attached to the caravan, Hercules manages to escape. Mrs. Weldon with her son and cousin Benedict is taken away in an uncertain direction. During the journey to Dick and his friends, the Negroes have to endure all the hardships of the transition with the caravan of slaves and witness the brutal treatment of guard soldiers and slaves with slaves. Unable to withstand this transition, along the road, the old Nan is dying.

The caravan arrives in Kazonda, where the slaves are divided into barracks. Dick Sand accidentally meets Garris and, after Harris, deceiving him, reports the death of Mrs. Weldon and her son, in desperation he snatches the dagger from his belt and kills him. The next day, a fair of slaves is to be held. Negoro, who saw from afar the scene of the death of his friend, asks permission from Alvez, the owner of the caravan of slaves and a very influential person in Kazonda, and also from Muani Lung, the local king, after allowing Dick to be executed after the fair. Alvets promises Muani-Lungu, unable to dispense for a long time without alcohol, by a drop of fiery water for every drop of white man's blood. He prepares a strong punch, sets it on fire, and when Muani-Lung drinks it, then his thoroughly penetrated body suddenly lights up and the king decays to the very bones. His first wife, Queen Muan, organizes a funeral, during which, according to tradition, many of the other wives of the tsar are killed, they are dumped and flooded. In the same excavation is located and tied to the pillar of Dick. He must perish.

Mrs. Weldon with her son and cousin Benedict, meanwhile, also live in Kazinda behind the fence of the Alvec factories. Negoro holds them there hostage and wants to get a ransom of Mr. Weldon at a rate of one hundred thousand dollars. He forces Mrs. Weldon to write a letter to her husband, who should contribute to the implementation of his plan, and, leaving the hostages in the care of Alvets, leaves for San Francisco. Once a cousin Benedict, a passionate collector of insects, chases after a particularly rare ground beetle. Pursuing her, he imperceptibly to himself through the mole climbing under the walls of the fence, breaks loose and runs two miles through the forest in the hope of still grabbing the insect. There he meets Hercules, all this time was near the caravan in the hope of something to help his friends.

At this time in the village begins a long, unusual for this time of the year downpour, which floods all the nearest fields and threatens to leave the inhabitants without harvest. Queen Muan invites sorcerers to the village to drive the clouds away. Hercules, having caught one of such wizards in the forest and disguised in his outfit, pretends to be a mute sorcerer and comes to the village, grabs the bewildered queen by the hand and leads her to the Al'wec factories. There, he shows signs that in the troubles of her people the white woman and her child. He grabs them and carries them away from the village. Alvets tries to detain him, but yields to the onslaught of savages and is forced to release the hostages. After eight miles and finally freeing from the last curious villagers, Hercules drops Mrs. Weldon and Jack into the boat, where they are amazed to discover that the sorcerer and Hercules are one person, see Dick Senda, rescued by Hercules from death, cousin Benedict and Dingo. Only Tom, Bata, Actaeon and Austin are missing, who were sold into slavery before and stolen from the village. Now the travelers finally have the opportunity to go down to the ocean on a boat disguised as a floating island. From time to time, Dick goes ashore to hunt. A few days later the boat sails past the cannibal village on the right bank. The fact that the river is not swimming islet, and a boat with people, savages discover after it is already far ahead.

Unbeknownst to travelers, savages on the shore pursue a boat in the hope of prey. A few days later the boat stops near the left bank, so as not to be dragged into a waterfall. Dingo, barely jumping to the shore, rushes forward, as if sensing someone's trail. Travelers stumble upon a small shack in which already scattered human bones are scattered. Near the tree with blood, two letters "S. AT.". These are the same letters engraved on the collar of Dingo. There is a note nearby, in which its author - traveler Samuel Vernon accuses his conductor Negoro of mortally wounding him in December 1871 and robbing him. Suddenly, Dingo breaks, and a scream is heard nearby. This Dingo clung to the throat of Negoro, who, before boarding a ship to America, returned to the scene of his crime in order to obtain from the cache the money stolen from Vernon. Dingo, whom Negoro wounded with a knife before his death, is dying. But Negoro himself can not escape retribution. Fearing on the left bank of the satellites of Negoro, Dick crosses for reconnaissance on the right bank. There arrows fly into it, and ten savages from the village of cannibals jump to him in the boat. Dick shoots the oar, and the boat carries to the waterfall. Savages in it perish, but Diku, hiding a boat, manages to escape. Soon travelers get to the ocean, and then without adventure on August 25, they arrive in California. Dick Sand becomes a son in the Weldon family, by the age of eighteen he is completing hydrographic courses and is preparing to become captain on one of the ships of James Weldon. Hercules becomes a great friend of the family. Tom, Bath, Actaeon and Austin, Mr. Weldon buys out of slavery, and on November 15, 1877, four Negroes, who have rid themselves of so many dangers, find themselves in the friendly embrace of the Weldon.