Year of writing: 1878 - publication
Genre: novel
Main characters: Dick- junior sailor, Negoro- antagonist, slave trader and cook, Mrs Weldon- ship passenger black people, dog Dingo
Verne always writes such novels that you can’t put them down, but if you don’t have time, read the summary of the novel “The Fifteen-Year-Old Captain” for the reader’s diary.
Plot
The brave captain and 5 senior sailors die during a whale hunt, Dick becomes captain. They find a wrecked ship and 5 survivors on it and a dog. The dog immediately took a dislike to the cook. Negoro deception takes the ship to the shores of Africa. There he escapes, and the remaining ones are met by an American sent by him. He leads the company deep into the jungle, and when they realize the deception, he runs away. Dick and the others fall into the hands of slave traders. One of the blacks is rescued, who then frees the rest of the captives. Dick kills the American sent. Negoro forces Mrs. Weldon to write to her rich husband and demand a ransom. After hardships and adventures, they reach the shore and walk along it until they find civilized people. Negoro is attacked by Dingo and both die. Dick is adopted by the Weldon couple.
Conclusion (my opinion)
Bravery and courage, ingenuity and caution, prudence and attentiveness are qualities that everyone needs to develop, because without them in a critical situation you will not save either yourself or others. And although we live in cities and are not threatened by wild animals or slave traders, there is a lot of evil in the world, and we need to learn to fight back.
70s of the 19th century. The schooner Pilgrim, designed for whale fighting, leaves one of the New Zealand ports. The ship, captained by Captain Gul, has five experienced crew members and young Dick Sand, who serves as a junior sailor on the ship.
The boy is only 15 years old, he is an orphan, but he is diligently mastering the profession of a sailor, and the captain is usually pleased with him. This time, Mrs. Weldon, the wife of the schooner's owner, her little son Jack and a strange, eccentric relative of the woman named Benedict are also following home with the Pilgrim. For everyone who is on the schooner, food is prepared by the cook of Portuguese origin, Negoro, a reserved and gloomy person, although he copes well with his duties.
Soon after departure, the sailors notice a ship nearby that is clearly wrecked. In the hold of this ship, the sailors discover five people with black skin, who have already reached the maximum degree of exhaustion, the eldest of whom is Tom. It is this old man who tells the story of his comrades; they happened to work for hire in New Zealand for some time. Upon returning home to the American continent, their ship survived a collision with another ship, its entire crew disappeared, and only a dog named Dingo remained with the dark-skinned Americans. Thus, new passengers appear on the Pilgrim, to whom everyone is very warm and friendly, but for some reason the dog always wants to bite Negoro, and the cook prefers not to encounter it at all.
After a few days of peaceful and calm sailing, a real disaster occurs. Captain Gul and all the sailors die while chasing a whale; Dick Sand is forced to take full responsibility for those remaining on the schooner, although the guy does not yet have all the knowledge and skills necessary for this. However, his dark-skinned comrades in misfortune are eager to help him in every possible way, and Dick firmly believes that he can lead the ship to the right place.
However, the unprincipled cook Negoro, who makes his own plans, takes advantage of the young captain’s inexperience in the most dishonest way. He disables the compasses, and as a result, the Pilgrim lands not on the American, but on the African coast, although none of those who disembarked from the ship suspect this. The travelers meet a certain Mr. Garris, who invites them to his brother’s hacienda, where, according to him, they will certainly be provided with shelter and food, and subsequently will be helped to return home.
But in fact, Harris acts in collusion with the cunning Portuguese, being an equally hardened scoundrel. He cleverly lures naive travelers more than a hundred miles deep into the “dark” continent, but at this moment both Dick Sand and old Tom already irrefutably guess about the deception. Moreover, they are convinced that Harris is engaged in the slave trade; Negoro also earned his living in this dishonest trade for a long time, for which he was sentenced to lifelong hard labor. However, the Portuguese still managed to escape and got a job on the schooner Pilgrim, intending to return to Africa sooner or later, which happened thanks to Dick’s lack of professionalism.
The travelers' attempt to escape from the people who betrayed them is unsuccessful; they are immediately captured, and black Americans find themselves joining the slave caravan. Mrs. Weldon, her son and Uncle Benedict are separated from them, only the strongest and tallest guy from Tom's group named Hercules manages to escape.
When the caravan arrives in a fairly large city where the unfortunate slaves are put up for sale, Harris informs Sendu that members of the shipowner's family have died, although this is not true. Dick, in desperation, snatches the dagger from his enemy and immediately stabs him to death. Negoro asks the local king, who has almost lost his mind due to incessant drinking, to execute the young man, and he without hesitation gives the appropriate permission.
Meanwhile, the wife of the owner of "Pilgrim", her son and an elderly relative live in Kazonda as hostages. Negoro intends to receive a substantial ransom for them from Mrs. Weldon's husband, but the woman does not agree to his arrival in Africa, absolutely not trusting her dishonest jailer. It is the absent-minded Benedict, while chasing another exotic butterfly, who accidentally meets the dark-skinned Hercules, who has long been looking for a way to help his companions.
Having learned where Mrs. Weldon and her child are, Hercules, pretending to be a sorcerer, enters the trading post and makes it clear to the savages gathered around that he needs to take the white woman and her baby from there. After escaping, they find themselves in a boat, where the boy and his mother are surprised to see Dick, whom they also thought was dead. However, Hercules managed to save him from execution at the very last moment, when the young man had already lost all hope.
After some time, the boat stops at the shore, and the dog Dingo hurriedly runs to a certain place. It is discovered that it is here that the body of the traveler Vernon was once left, near which lies a note accusing Negoro, who was his guide, of having robbed and killed the explorer. At this moment, the Portuguese himself appears, Dingo grabs the throat of the culprit of his master’s death. The villain kills the dog, but also dies.
Dick and his comrades, having eluded the aggressive locals, get to the ship, which takes them to California. After this, the Weldon family treats Send like their own son, and the young man continues to diligently study the sailor's craft in order to later take command of one of his adoptive father's ships. Mr. Weldon also eventually finds and redeems four black US citizens left in Africa from captivity, then they come to their friends who are impatiently waiting for them.
✪ 2000417_Audiobook. Jules Verne. "Captain at fifteen"
✪ Jules Verne - The Fifteen-Year-Old Captain
✪ 15 river captain (audiobook)
Subtitles
Plot
The novel describes the adventures of the passengers of the whaling schooner brig Pilgrim, whose entire crew (5 sailors and the captain) died as a result of a fight with a whale. The passengers on the ship were Mrs. Weldon and her little son Jack, cousin Benedict (Mrs. Weldon's cousin, an entomologist), black nanny Nan, junior sailor Dick Sand and cook Negoro. Fifteen-year-old junior sailor Dick Sand takes command. Five blacks rescued from a ship in distress help him steer the ship. These blacks are Bath, Austin, Actaeon, Hercules and old Tom. A dog named Dingo was also rescued from the sinking ship. The dog immediately began to show aggression towards the ship's cook Negoro. The letters S.V. were visible on the dog's collar. Kok Negoro, who turned out to be an agent of the slave traders, deceives the ship with the help of a metal bar placed under the compass, and instead of Bolivia (South America), the Pilgrim comes to the shores of Angola in Africa. Near the shore, the ship is damaged, and the travelers are forced to go ashore. Immediately after landing on the shore, Negoro disappears. Soon the travelers meet the American Harris, who offers to take them to the estate, where they will receive help. The travelers agree and set off. However, the attentive Dick immediately begins to notice strange things - cousin Benedict miraculously escaped the bite of a fly similar to a tsetse, his cousin's glasses were trampled, near the river travelers scared off a herd of hippopotamuses and giraffes (which, however, were mistaken for ostriches), the roar of a lion was heard in the darkness, a clearing in the forest was trampled by elephants. All these phenomena could only occur in Africa. At the same time, cinchona and rubber trees characteristic of South America were absent. Harris explained all this by mistakes, ignorance of the area, etc. The last decisive fact was the severed hands found by Dick and Tom. Dick is finally convinced with horror that they have ended up in Angola - “the country of slave traders and slaves.” Dick and Tom are about to grab Harris, but he gets ahead of them and hides. A small detachment remains in an unknown, terrible area.
Having learned the bitter truth, the persistent travelers try to get out of the trap, but to no avail. After spending the night in an abandoned termite mound, they fall into the hands of the slave traders who surrounded them. Only Hercules manages to escape. Agents join them to a slave caravan heading into the interior of the country. Negroes walk in chains and bravely endure adversity. Mrs. Weldon, Jack and Cousin Benedict are in better conditions, since the slave traders have definite plans for them. After many days of exhausting travel, the caravan arrives at Kazonde, a hornet's nest of slave traders. Not everyone managed to withstand all the hardships of the journey; many slaves, including old Nan, died on the road. In Kazonda, Dick meets Harris and kills him with a knife. Kok Negoro turns out to be the closest assistant of the major slave trader Alvish.
Soon the slave trade begins in Kazonda. Alvish manages to sell the blacks at the best price, despite their protests and assurances that they are US citizens and free people. Mrs. Weldon, Jack and Cousin Benedict are kept in a guarded house. Jack is sick and has malaria. Negoro forces Mrs. Weldon to write a letter to her wealthy husband asking for ransom. Negoro convinces her of Dick Sand's death, and this turns out to be the last straw.
Alvish is forced to maintain friendly relations with the local king Muani-Lunga, who spends his time in debauchery and drinking. Unexpectedly, having carelessly drunk Alwish's fiery punch, Muani-Lunga dies, and his eldest wife becomes the ruler. According to local custom, he should be buried along with his servants, wives, and necessary things. A pit is dug in the city and water is prepared, which should flood it and bury the wives and servants alive. As a special sacrifice, Dick Sand is tied to a post inside the pit. At the right moment, water is released and it floods the pit.
After some time, Negoro leaves Kazonde towards the ocean to board a ship and sail to America to Mr. Weldon for ransom. Meanwhile, the drought continues, threatening famine. Special sorcerers, mgangangs, come from all over the country. In Kazonda they are waiting for a very powerful mgangu, who is delayed for some reason. Soon the mganga comes and performs ritual dances. He is mute, so he uses sign language. He determines that the source of all disasters is a white woman and her son. Accompanied by a crowd, the mganga comes to Alwish's house and takes away Mrs. Weldon and Jack, who is losing consciousness from horror. Cousin Benedict escapes from Kasonde while hunting for an insect and is later found by Hercules. Alvish tears his hair out of frustration, since Negoro entrusted him with the protection of a woman and her son in exchange for a share in the ransom. However, Alvish cannot resist the desire of the crowd, overwhelmed by beliefs. Mgannga moves away from the city and reaches the river, where he has a raft hidden. Mgannga is none other than Hercules in disguise, and Dick Sand and Cousin Benedict with Dingo are waiting on the raft alive and unharmed. Hercules followed the caravan on its heels, then helped Dick free himself from the ropes and get out of the pit.
Soon the travelers on the raft reach the ocean and walk along the shore in search of civilized places. Dingo, the faithful dog who was nearby all the time, is still with them. Suddenly the travelers see the hut, Dingo breaks down and runs inside. Soon Negoro approaches the hut and Dingo attacks him. As it turned out, the “ship’s cook” hid his money there after the murder of Dingo’s owner, Samuel Vernon (S.V. are the initials of Dingo’s owner, engraved on the dog’s collar). Negoro kills the dog, but he himself is mortally wounded and dies. Travelers find a letter from Samuel Vernon, who was dying in the hut, in which he exposes the thief and murderer Negoro. After some time, the travelers reach civilization, board a ship and return to America. Mr. Weldon manages to ransom his loyal friends, Bath, Tom, Austin and Actaeon, who were enslaved. Dick Sand, having received the appropriate education, becomes the real captain of the ship owned by Mr. Weldon.
One of the most outstanding novels of the great French writer Jules Verne was first published in 1878. The adventure novel was filmed several times: in 1945 (USSR), in 1974 (co-production of Spain and France) and in 1986 (USSR, the film was called “Captain of the Pilgrim”).
The schooner-brig Pilgrim, intended for whaling, sets sail from the port of Auckland. The schooner is led by an experienced captain Gul, who has several sailors under his command. The youngest of them is 15 years old. Cook Negoro is on the team. In addition, on board is Mrs. Weldon, the wife of the owner of the ship with her five-year-old son Jack, nanny Nan and the Weldon relative cousin Benedict. The schooner is heading to San Francisco.
After a few days of travel, Mrs. Weldon's son notices an overturned ship in the ocean. As it turned out, this ship is called "Waldeck". It could not continue its journey due to a hole in the bow. The passengers of the Pilgrim found five blacks on the Waldeck. All of them were free citizens of America, but lived for some time in New Zealand, where they worked on plantations under contract. On the way to America, the Waldeck collided with another ship. Suddenly, all crew members disappeared. Five friends were doomed to starvation.
The crew of the Pilgrim takes on board the passengers of the Waldeck. A few days later, the dark-skinned Hercules, Austin, Tom, Actaeon and Bath managed to come to their senses. In addition to the five blacks, a dog named Dingo was found on the Waldeck. The only surviving passengers of the lost ship claim that their captain found the animal off the coast of the African continent. For some unknown reason, Dingo, from the first minutes of his stay on the Pilgrim, begins to show aggression towards the cook Negoro. On the dog’s collar you can see 2 letters: “C” and “B”.
The adventure begins...
Several more days of travel passed. The sailors of the Pilgrim and Captain Gul transfer to the boat and go to catch a whale that was spotted not far from the ship. The leadership of the Pilgrim is entrusted to the youngest sailor of the team, Dick Sand. Gul and five sailors die in a fight with a whale. Dick is forced to take over as captain for the remainder of the voyage. Despite the fact that the young captain is quite brave and courageous, he lacks some navigational knowledge. Dick can't navigate by the stars. Sand can only find out the location of the schooner by using the lot and a compass.
Negoro took advantage of the young captain's inexperience. He broke one compass and disabled the lot. Then the insidious cook changed the readings on the second compass. As a result, the Pilgrim arrived on the shores of Angola, where the ship washed ashore. All passengers survived. Negoro, taking advantage of the general turmoil, leaves the travelers. Dick goes in search of some settlement and meets the American Harris. A new acquaintance assures Dick that the travelers are in Bolivia. Harris invites travelers to his brother's hacienda, where the passengers of the Pilgrim can find shelter. In fact, the American lures travelers deep into the tropical forest.
On the way to the hacienda, Tom and Dick realized that they were on the African continent. When Harris notices that his deception has been revealed, he immediately hides in the forest. The reader then watches the meeting between the American and Negoro. From a conversation between old friends, it becomes clear that the ship's cook is a secret agent of the slave traders. Its main task is to supply living goods to those who sell them. Negoro has been engaged in his trade for several years. The authorities of Portugal, where the cook was from, sentenced the secret agent to lifelong hard labor. However, Negoro did not stay in hard labor for long. He managed to escape and get a job on the Pilgrim. The secret agent dreamed of returning to Africa. Circumstances worked out in the best way for Negoro.
After numerous adventures and escape from slavery, almost all the heroes find themselves together again. Only Nanny Nan did not survive. The mystery of the mysterious letters “C” and “B”, which turned out to be initials, is also revealed. Dingo's owner's name was Samuel Vernon. Cook Negoro contributed to his death.
Having met his master's killer again, Dingo throws himself on his neck and tries to gnaw his throat out. The secret agent managed to kill the dog, but he himself also could not escape retribution and died. The travelers were able to reach California safely. The Weldon couple redeem the enslaved Austin, Tom, Actaeon and Bath and accept Dick into their family. The young man receives the necessary education and becomes the captain of one of his adoptive father's ships.
Dick Sand was left an orphan at an early age. The main character of the novel was found on the street by a random passer-by, after whom the boy was later named. Diku's surname was given in memory of the place where he was discovered.
Little Dick was precocious and already at the age of four he learned to count, write and read. At the age of eight, the boy went to work as a cabin boy. He managed to prove himself well on the ship. The owner of the ship, Weldon, decided to send Dick to school. Then the young man became a sailor on the Pilgrim.
During the journey described in the novel, Dick Sand was also able to show his best side. A difficult childhood and the endurance gifted by nature tempered the young captain. Dick had to take the place of the deceased Ghoul and make his own decisions. The ability to not get lost in an unfamiliar environment allowed Sand not only to survive, but to receive the most desired reward - the family he never had.
Author's philosophy
Readers of different ages may be interested in completely different things in the same novel. Teenagers 12-16 years old are only interested in adventure. A fifteen-year-old boy, the same age as them, finds himself face to face with severe trials, from which he emerges victorious.
Features of Jules Verne's style
More mature readers will be able to see in the novel the worldview of its author. Jules Verne puts events first in his works. That is why the writer’s philosophy often goes unnoticed and fades into the background.
In fact, adventure is only the background against which the development of interpersonal relationships occurs. Everyday life is not capable of revealing the character of people living by inertia. Finding himself in an unusual and dangerous environment, a person will definitely show his true colors.
Denying racism and slavery, Jules Verne agrees with another great writer of the 19th century - Mark Twain. It is no coincidence that Hercules can be seen among the positive characters. The main villain turns out to be a native of Portugal. It is also no coincidence that people of the white race fall into slavery. The author invites whites to be in the place of blacks and feel everything that black slaves have to go through. Verne sees no difference between the two skin colors. The superiority of one color over another is nothing more than a stereotype. If the oppression of blacks seems logical to a white American, then the enslavement of whites seems no less logical to the indigenous people of the African continent.
6TH GRADE
JULES VERNE
CAPTAIN AT FIFTEEN
(Summary)
Part one
Sections I - VI
On February 2, 1873, the schooner-brig "Pilgrim" was located at 43" 37" south latitude and 165° 19" west longitude (from the Greenwich meridian). On board the schooner, which was equipped for whaling, were the brave Captain Hull, five sailors, fifteen-year-old orphan Dick Sand, the ship's cook Negoro, as well as the wife of the schooner's owner - Mrs. Weldon with her five-year-old son Jack, their relative - the naturalist cousin Benedict, and the black nanny Nun. For several days the Pilgrim was moving towards San Francisco, when suddenly little Jack. I saw a ship that had been wrecked. Having sailed closer, the sailors noticed five blacks and a dog, Dingo, on the ship. The sailors took the victim on board their schooner, and in a few days they completely recovered. However, a strange circumstance was striking: the dog growled at Negoro. recognized him, even tried to rush in. Therefore, the cook decided not to appear in front of him. By the way, it turned out that the dog could read, or rather form letters, and he made up the inscription “S. IN.". Therefore, he must have an owner who taught him this.
Sections VII - XVIII
One day, Captain Hull and five sailors set out to catch whales. But they do not return, having died during the hunt. The responsibilities of captain are taken on by fifteen-year-old cabin boy Dick Sand. The guy is trying to teach the blacks how to sail. However, he himself also knows a little. This is exactly what Negoro takes advantage of. Thanks to some manipulations with compasses and lots, he directs the ship not to America, but to Angola. The ship washes ashore. Fortunately, everyone remains unharmed. And Negoro disappears somewhere. Dick Sand goes in search of some settlement. He meets Negoro's accomplice, the American Harris. He assures the guy that they are in Bolivia and invites him to his brother’s place, where the sailors will find housing and care. After some time, Dick Sand and the black Tom begin to realize that they are in Africa. Africa! Country of slave traders and slaves!
Part two
Sections i-IX
From a conversation between Harris and Negoro, friends learn that these two are engaged in human trafficking. This is confirmed by the chains found in Harpica. Realizing that he has been exposed, the slave trader runs away. He only slightly did not bring the detachment to the place where, in agreement with Negoro, they were supposed to attack him.
Dick Sand and his friends decide to walk along the shore to some big river. On the way they are overtaken by a storm. The travelers hide in a large anthill, but after the storm ends they fall into the hands of the natives. Blacks, Dick and Nun are added to the slave caravan. Hercules manages to escape. Mrs. Weldon with her son and cousin Benedict are taken to an unknown location. Old Nun, unable to withstand the difficult journey, dies.
Sections X - XVII
In Kazonda, where the caravan arrives, Dick meets Harris. He reports that Mrs. Weldon and her son allegedly died. The guy, in despair, snatches the dagger from the slave trader’s hands and kills him. Negoro asks local influential people for permission to execute Dick. Alvets, the owner of the slave caravan, prepares punch. He sets it on fire and presents it to Muani-Lung, the local king. Muani-Lung's body, soaked through with large amounts of alcohol, bursts into flames. His first wife, Queen Muana, arranges a funeral, during which the other wives of the ruler are thrown into the pit, where Dick is already located, sentenced to death.
At this time, the prisoners Mrs. Weldon and her son live behind the fence of the Alvets trading post. Negoro hopes to receive a large ransom for them. Cousin Benedict, hunting for a rare ground beetle, suddenly finds himself behind a fence. There he meets Hercules, who was nearby all the time, hoping to somehow save his friends.
A terrible downpour begins in the village. The queen calls the sorcerers and asks them to disperse the clouds. Hercules, having captured one of those magicians, changes into his clothes and goes to the village. He says that the white woman and her child are to blame for everything, after which he takes the prisoners with him. When he puts Mrs. Weldon and her son into the boat, the woman sees the rescued Dick Sand, cousin of Benedict and Dingo.
Sections XI-XX
On a boat disguised as a small island, friends go to the ocean. A few days later they land on the shore. The dog rushes onto land as if sensing something. Having gone after her, the friends know that they receive a note signed “S. IN." These are the same letters indicated on the Dingo's collar. Traveler Samuel Vernoy tells how his guide, Negoro, wounded and robbed him.
Suddenly, friends see Dingo take off and, with a wild growl, dive into the throat of Negoro, who came to the crime scene with the loot. The slave trader stabs the dog and the dog dies. But Negoro himself also dies. Travelers move on - and on August 25 they reach California.
The Weldon family adopts Dick, he completes hydrographic courses and prepares to become a captain on one of James Weldon's ships. Hercules becomes a close family friend. Weldon redeems the other four blacks from slavery.
