The novel “The Fifteen-Year-Old Captain” by Verne was written in 1878. This is a story about the exciting adventures of a young sailor who took responsibility for the fate of the crew of the whaling ship Pilgrim. We recommend reading the summary of “The Fifteen-Year-Old Captain” chapter by chapter and part by part. A retelling of the book will be useful for both reader's diary, and in preparation for a literature lesson.

Main characters of the novel

Main characters:

• Dick Sand is a fifteen-year-old sailor, a brave and determined young man.
• Mrs. Weldon is the wife of the ship owner, a brave, persistent woman.
• Jack is Mrs. Weldon's little son.
• Benedict is Mrs. Weldon's cousin and an avid entomologist.
• Tom, Bath, Hercules, Austin, Actaeon - blacks rescued from a sunken ship.
• Negoro is a slave trader hiding from the authorities, a vile and cruel person.

Other characters:

• Nan is Jack's elderly nanny.
• James Weldon is a wealthy shipowner.
• Captain Gul is the captain of the whaling ship Pilgrim.
• Harris is a slave trader, Negoro's accomplice.
• Antonio Alvets is the owner of a slave caravan.
• Muani-Lunga is the old king of Kazonde.
• Muana is the first wife of Muani-Lung, Queen of Kazonde.

J. Verne “The Fifteen-Year-Old Captain” very briefly

The plot of the work takes place in 1873. The schooner Pilgrim sets sail for America. The captain and sailors die while hunting whales. Now the schooner is led by junior sailor Dick, who could only navigate by compass. This plays into the hands of the criminal Negoro. He purposefully breaks all the compasses and instead of America, the ship sails to the shores of Africa. Negoro finds himself in his native land and immediately disappears.

The blacks and Dick are captured, only Hercules was lucky and managed to escape. Mrs. Weldon, her son and cousin are led away in another direction. The criminals have other plans for them. Negaro wants to get a huge ransom from Weldon for them. Dick and his friends endure severe torment during the passage of the caravan.

Dick meets Geriss. He hates him for betraying them. Taking this opportunity, the young man grabs a knife and kills his enemy. Negaro witnesses the death of his comrade and wants to deal with Dick.

Mrs. Weldon's slightly strange cousin wants to catch a rare insect and doesn't even notice how he finds himself outside the territory in which he is kept with his sister and nephew. Hercules meets him. A brave black youth dresses up as a sorcerer. Queen Muana invites sorcerers to influence the weather, as in Lately There are constant downpours, which will adversely affect the harvest.

The chief sorcerer reports that the woman and the boy are to blame. Takes Mrs. Weldon and Jackson and leaves. After this, the woman discovers that this is their savior Hercules. He saves Dick, but does not have time to rescue his brothers and father, who have already been sold into slavery.

The fugitives disguise the boat and sail for several days. After some time, the travelers stop at the shore, as there is a waterfall ahead. On this island are the remains of Samuel the Faithful. This man was robbed and killed by Negaro, who returned to the place again to collect the stolen money. Negaro didn't get away with it that easily.

The boat's passengers were saved. Dick was adopted by the Weldons; by the time he came of age, he was taking sailing courses and was ready to serve as a captain. Black friends were bought by Mistel Weldon.

Read also: Verne's novel "" was published in 1968. To better prepare for a literature lesson, we recommend reading a chapter-by-chapter summary of “The Children of Captain Grant,” which will also be useful for the reader’s diary. This is a classic example of the travel novel genre, in which the main characters' sea voyages are closely intertwined with their adventures on land.

A condensed retelling of "The Fifteen-Year-Old Captain"

15 year old captain Jules is correct in abbreviated form:

On January 29, 1873, the schooner brig Pilgrim, equipped for whaling, set sail from the port of Oakland, New Zealand. On board are the brave and experienced captain Gul, five experienced sailors, a fifteen-year-old junior sailor - orphan Dick Sand, the ship's cook Negoro, as well as the wife of the owner of the Pilgrim, James Weldon - Mrs. Weldon with her five-year-old son Jack, her eccentric relative, whom everyone calls " Cousin Benedict,” and the old black nanny Nan.

The sailboat is on its way to San Francisco with a call at Valparaiso. After a few days of sailing, little Jack notices the Waldeck ship overturned on its side in the ocean with a hole in the bow. In it, the sailors discover five emaciated blacks and a dog named Dingo. It turns out that the blacks: Tom, a sixty-year-old man, his son Bath, Austin, Actaeon and Hercules are free citizens of the United States. Having completed their contract work on the plantations in New Zealand, they returned to America.

After the Waldeck collided with another ship, all crew members and the captain disappeared and they were left alone. They are transported aboard the Pilgrim, and after a few days of careful care they fully regain their strength. Dingo, according to them, was picked up by the captain of the Waldeck off the coast of Africa. At the sight of Negoro, the dog, for some unknown reason, begins to growl ferociously and expresses its readiness to pounce on him. Negoro prefers not to show himself to the dog, who apparently recognized him.

A few days later, Captain Gul and five sailors, who dared to go on a boat to catch a whale that they spotted a few miles from the ship, die. Dick Sand, who remained on the ship, takes over the functions of captain. The blacks are trying to learn the sailor's craft under his leadership.

For all his courage and inner maturity, Dick does not have all the knowledge of navigation and can only navigate the ocean using a compass and a lot that measures the speed of movement. He doesn’t know how to find a location using the stars, which is what Negoro takes advantage of. He breaks one compass and, unnoticed by everyone, changes the readings of the second. Then it disables the lot. His machinations contribute to the fact that instead of America, the ship arrives at the shores of Angola and is thrown ashore.

All travelers are safe. Negoro quietly leaves them and goes in an unknown direction. After some time, Dick Sand, who went in search of some settlement, meets the American Harris, who, in cahoots with Negoro, his old acquaintance, and assuring that the travelers are on the shores of Bolivia, lures them a hundred miles into the tropical forest, promising shelter and care at his brother's hacienda. Over time, Dick Sand and Tom realize that they somehow ended up in the wrong place. South America, and in Africa.

Harris, having guessed about their insight, hides in the forest, leaving the travelers alone, and goes to a pre-arranged meeting with Negoro. From their conversation, it becomes clear to the reader that Harris is involved in the slave trade, and Negoro is also for a long time was familiar with this trade until the authorities of Portugal, where he was from, sentenced him to lifelong hard labor for such activities. After staying on it for two weeks, Negoro ran away, got a job as a cook on the Pilgrim and began to wait for the right opportunity to get back to Africa.

Dick's inexperience played into his hands, and his plan was carried out much sooner than he dared to hope. Not far from the place where he meets Harris, there is a caravan of slaves that is going to the fair in Kazonda, led by one of their acquaintances. The caravan is camped ten miles from the travelers' location, on the banks of the Kwanzaa River.

Knowing Dick Sand, Negoro and Harris correctly assume that he will decide to take his people to the river and go down to the ocean on a raft. That's where they plan to capture them. Having discovered Harris' disappearance, Dick realizes that there has been a betrayal and decides to follow the bank of the stream to a larger river. On the way, they are overtaken by a thunderstorm and a fierce downpour, from which the river overflows its banks and rises several pounds above ground level.

Before the rain, travelers climb into an empty termite mound, twelve feet high. In a huge anthill with thick clay walls they wait out the thunderstorm. However, having got out of there, they are immediately captured. The blacks, Nan and Dick are added to the caravan, Hercules manages to escape.

Mrs. Weldon and her son and cousin Benedict are taken away in an unspecified direction. During the journey, Dick and his black friends have to endure all the hardships of traveling with a caravan of slaves and witness the brutal treatment of slaves by soldier guards and overseers. Unable to withstand this transition, old Nan dies along the way.

The caravan arrives at Kazonde, where the slaves are distributed among barracks. Dick Sand accidentally meets Harris and, after Harris, deceiving him, reports the death of Mrs. Weldon and her son, in despair he snatches a dagger from his belt and kills him. The next day there is to be a slave fair. Negoro, who saw from afar the scene of the death of his friend, asks permission from Alvets, the owner of the slave caravan and a very influential person in Kazonda, as well as from Muani-Lung, the local king, for permission to execute Dick after the fair.

Alvets promises Muani-Lung, who is unable to go without alcohol for a long time, a drop of fire water for every drop of blood white man. He prepares a strong punch, sets it on fire, and when Muani-Lung drinks it, his completely alcohol-soaked body suddenly catches fire and the king rots to the very bones. His first wife, Queen Muana, arranges a funeral, during which, according to tradition, numerous other wives of the king are killed, thrown into a pit and flooded. In the same pit there is also Dick tied to a post. He must die.

Mrs. Weldon with her son and cousin Benedict, meanwhile, also live in Kazonda outside the fence of the Alvets trading post. Negoro holds them hostage there and wants a ransom of one hundred thousand dollars from Mr. Weldon. He forces Mrs. Weldon to write a letter to her husband, which should contribute to the implementation of his plan, and, leaving the hostages in the care of Alvets, he leaves for San Francisco.

One day, Cousin Benedict, an avid insect collector, is chasing a particularly rare ground beetle. Chasing her, he, unbeknownst to himself, breaks free through a mole hole running under the walls of the fence and runs two miles through the forest in the hope of catching the insect. There he meets Hercules, who has been next to the caravan all this time in the hope of helping his friends in some way.

At this time, a long rainfall begins in the village, unusual for this time of year, which floods all the nearby fields and threatens to leave the residents without a harvest. Queen Muana invites sorcerers to the village so that they can drive away the clouds. Hercules, having caught one of these sorcerers in the forest and dressed in his outfit, pretends to be a mute sorcerer and comes to the village, grabs the astonished queen by the hand and leads her to the Alvets trading post. There he shows with signs that she is to blame for the troubles of her people white woman and her child.

He grabs them and takes them out of the village. Alvets tries to detain him, but gives in to the onslaught of savages and is forced to release the hostages. Having walked eight miles and finally freed from the last curious villagers, Hercules lowers Mrs. Weldon and Jack into a boat, where they are amazed to discover that the sorcerer and Hercules are one person, see Dick Sand, saved from death by Hercules, cousin Benedict and Dingo.

The only things missing are Tom, Bath, Actaeon and Austin, who had previously been sold into slavery and driven away from the village. Now 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. After a few days of travel, the boat sails past a cannibal village located on the right bank. The savages discover that it is not an island, but a boat with people, floating along the river after it is already far ahead.

Unnoticed by the travelers, the savages along the shore follow the boat in the hope of prey. A few days later, the boat stops on the left bank so as not to be pulled into the waterfall. The dingo, as soon as it jumps onto the shore, rushes forward, as if sensing someone’s scent. Travelers stumble upon a small shack in which already whitened human bones are scattered.

Nearby, on a tree, two letters “S” are written in blood. IN.". These are the same letters that are engraved on Dingo's collar. Nearby is a note in which its author, traveler Samuel Vernon, accuses his guide Negoro of mortally wounding him in December 1871 and robbing him. Suddenly Dingo takes off and a scream is heard nearby. It was Dingo who grabbed the throat of Negoro, who, before boarding the ship to America, returned to the scene of his crime to get from the cache the money he had stolen from Vernon.

Dingo, whom Negoro stabs before dying, dies. But Negoro himself cannot escape retribution. Fearing Negoro's companions on the left bank, Dick crosses over to the right bank for reconnaissance. There, arrows fly at him, and ten savages from the village of cannibals jump into his boat. Dick shoots the oar, and the boat is carried towards the waterfall. The savages die in it, but Dick, who took refuge in a boat, manages to escape.

Soon the travelers reach the ocean, and then, without incident, on August 25 they arrive in California. Dick Sand becomes a son in the Weldon family, by the age of eighteen he completes hydrographic courses and prepares to become a captain on one of James Weldon's ships. Hercules becomes a great friend of the family.

Tom, Bath, Actaeon and Austin are redeemed by Mr. Weldon from slavery, and on November 15, 1877, four blacks, freed from so many dangers, find themselves in the friendly arms of the Weldons.

Read also: Science fiction novels “The Mysterious Island” and “” by Jules Verne are among the most famous. “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea,” written in 1870, tells the story of the fictional Captain Nemo and his submarine Nautilus, according to one of his passengers, Professor of the Natural History Museum Pierre Aronnax. On our website you can read a summary of “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea” for the reader’s diary in parts.

The plot of "The Fifteen-Year-Old Captain" in chapters

“The Fifteen-Year-Old Captain” summary with a description of each chapter:

Part one

Chapter 1. Schooner-brig "Pilgrim"

In February 1973, the Pilgrim "was outfitted in San Francisco for a whale hunt in southern seas" It belonged to “the wealthy Californian shipowner James Weldon,” who entrusted the command of his schooner to Captain Gul. Under the command of the captain “there were five experienced sailors and one newcomer.” In addition, he was forced to take on board passengers - Mrs. Weldon, her five-year-old son Jack and cousin Benedict, the old black nanny Nan.

Chapter 2. Dick Sand

All the sailors of the Pilgrim “knew each other for a long time” and got along well with each other, and only the Portuguese Negoro did not really like the captain, who “did not have time to make inquiries about the past of the new cook.”

The youngest and most inexperienced sailor on the ship was a fifteen-year-old orphan boy, Dick Sand. But, despite his age, he was distinguished by his intelligence and courage, and “was already able to make decisions and bring to the end everything that he had deliberately decided on.”

Chapter 3. Wrecked ship

After several days of sailing, the crew of the Pilgrim noticed a “vessel overturned on its side” with a hole in the bow. Captain Gul decided to explore it, and on board the sunken ship the sailors found five blacks and a dog dying of thirst.

Chapter 4. Rescued from the Waldeck

The unfortunates were transferred aboard the Pilgrim, where they received proper care. It turned out that the blacks - old Tom, his son Bath, as well as Hercules, Austin and Actaeon - were not slaves, but free citizens of America. Their ship was struck by some unknown ship and disappeared.

Chapter 5. “C” and “B”

Another creature rescued from the sinking ship was a large dog named Dingo, whose collar was engraved with two letters - "C" and "B". “Dingo soon became the favorite of the whole crew,” and only Negoro he hated fiercely for an unknown reason. The cook tried not to show himself to the dog, who apparently recognized him.

Chapter 6. Whale on the horizon

After some time, the sailor on watch noticed a whale on the horizon. It was very large specimen"minke whale." The sailors began to lively discuss their future prey - “the whole crew passionately wanted to hunt.”

Chapter 7. Preparations for the hunt

Despite the great risk, the whalers could not miss the opportunity to catch a giant sea animal and “fill the hold of the ship - the temptation was great.” Together with five sailors, he boarded the boat, leaving Dick Sand “as his deputy for the duration of the hunt.”

Chapter 8. Stripe

Experienced whalers began to hunt minke whales. They managed to wound him with a harpoon, but the unexpectedly wounded whale, “hitting the water with force with its fins, rushed at the people.” The enraged whale crushed the boat with a powerful blow of its tail and “in its death throes, furiously beat its tail on the water” - none of the whalers managed to survive.

Chapter 9. Captain Sand

“A ship that has lost its captain and sailors” could easily become a weak-willed toy of currents and winds. Of the entire crew, only fifteen-year-old Dick Sand remained alive, and “this boy was now supposed to replace the captain, the boatswain, and the entire crew.” The young man decided to take on the functions of captain and teach the sailor craft to the rescued blacks. They happily agreed to help him.

Chapter 10. The next four days

Everyone had one desire - to quickly get to “some other port on the American coast.” Dick knew how to use a compass and a lot, but “the young captain did not yet know how to make astronomical observations” that influenced the location of the ship. Suddenly, “there was a problem with the compass that was in the captain’s cabin” - it fell off the hook and fell to the floor. There was still one more compass left to work, but the insidious Negoro also spoiled it - so the “Pilgrim” strayed from the intended course.

Chapter 11. Storm

A week later the sky became cloudy and the strong wind– everything foreshadowed the beginning of a storm. “The ship held up well in the waves” and continued to move forward confidently. Thanks to the efforts of Negoro, the lot was disabled, and “Dick Sand lost the ability to determine the speed of the ship.”

Chapter 12. Island on the horizon

On the same day, “a hurricane, the most terrible form of storm, broke out,” and did not stop for a week. According to Dick's calculations, they should have already reached the shores of America. He became more and more confident that the navigation instruments had been deliberately damaged by someone. Suddenly, the outline of land appeared overboard - it was an island.

Chapter 13. “Earth! Earth!"

Dick was sure that they had seen Easter Island, and he directed the ship along the correct course, as it seemed to him. Soon everyone noticed land, but there was “no human habitation, no port, no river mouth where the ship could find a safe refuge.” At the sight of the shore, Dingo “howled long and plaintively.”

Chapter 14. What to do?

After seventy-four days of sailing, the Pilgrim was thrown ashore and smashed on the reefs. Fortunately, no one was hurt. Dick Sand could not understand where they ended up. Meanwhile, Negoro quietly left the detachment, hiding in the thicket of the forest. It soon became clear that he was the first to arrive on the destroyed ship and seized all of Mrs. Weldon's money.

Chapter 15. Harris

After some time, the heroes met an American named Harris. He assured the travelers that they had been shipwrecked off the coast of Bolivia. Mr. Harris suggested that they take a break from the unrest at his brother's hacienda, which required crossing the rainforest.

Chapter 16. On the road

Having collected food supplies and necessary things, the small detachment set off. This transition was especially interesting for cousin Benedict, an entomologist, who began to enthusiastically study local insects.

Chapter 17. One Hundred Miles in Ten Days

Dick and his dark-skinned friends were surprised that during the hike they did not meet a single familiar tree or animal, but Mr. Garris managed to dispel their doubts. When Cousin Benedict cried out in pain at night, he found out that he had been bitten by a tsetse fly. The entomologist was very pleased with his discovery, since “not a single scientist has ever found tsetse in America.”

Chapter 18. Scary word

The detachment made its way through the forest for twelve days, covering over a hundred miles during this time. Gradually, Dick began to discover the truth, “which became more and more clear and undeniable every hour” - they were in equatorial Africa, a country of “slave traders and slaves.”

Part two

Chapter 1. Slave trade

The Pilgrim crashed off the coast of Angola. This was one of the most dangerous areas Equatorial Africa, where cannibal savages still lived, local tribes were constantly at odds, but the worst thing is here full swing there was a slave trade.

Chapter 2. Harris and Negoro

Harris, who had left the detachment by that time, met with Negoro. From their conversation it became clear that these were old friends who lived in the slave trade. They agreed to wait for the slave caravan “to capture Dick Sand and his companions.”

Chapter 3. A Hundred Miles from the Shore

Dick Sand realized that Negoro was the culprit of their troubles, and Harris was his accomplice. Only one thing remained unclear - “what are these scoundrels up to?” The young man planned to return to the coast as quickly as possible and “and reach the nearest Portuguese trading post,” where they would be safe. To do this, it was necessary to find a river and go down to the ocean on a raft.

Chapter 4. Along the difficult roads of Angola

On the way, the friends were overtaken by a terrible thunderstorm and heavy rain. They managed to hide from bad weather in an empty termite mound.

Chapter 5. Lecture on termites given in a termite mound

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Cousin Benedict gave his friends an informative lecture about the builders of this impressive structure - termites.

Chapter 6. Diving bell

At night, water began to flow into the termite mound - “due to heavy rain, the river overflowed its banks and overflowed across the plain.” Dick compared their shelter to a diving bell, in which the air is under high pressure. To escape, the friends cut through the top of the termite mound and got out to freedom.

Chapter 7. Camp on the shores of Kwanzaa

Noticing a native camp nearby, the friends hurried towards them. However, this was a slave caravan, driving slaves to “the main market for black goods.” Once in the camp, “Dick Sand and his companions immediately turned into slaves.” Mrs. Weldon, Jack and cousin Benedict were immediately separated, Dick was disarmed and taken under guard, and the blacks were added to the caravan.

Chapter 8. From Dick Sand's notebook

The strong man Hercules miraculously managed to escape, and his friends, shackled, were jealous of him - “he was free and could fight for his life.” Dick was entirely occupied with thoughts of Mrs. Weldon and little Jack. Old lady Nan was among the exhausted slaves who were hacked to death with axes.

Chapter 9. Kasonde

Only “half of the total number of captured slaves” reached Kazonda, the largest slave market. The slaves were distributed among cramped barracks. The owner of the caravan, Antonio Alvets, was especially pleased with the young and strong blacks from America - he could demand a high price for them. From Harris, Dick learned about the death of Mrs. Weldon and Jack. “In a fit of uncontrollable anger,” the young man killed the traitor.

Chapter 10. Fair

Alvets wanted to immediately execute Dick, but Negoro asked him to be patient for a while. On the day of the fair in Kazonda, Alvets brought out all his slaves for sale. Tom, Bath, Actaeon and Austin were very lucky, and “they were sold into one hand.”

Chapter 11. Royal Punch

In the midst of the fair, “His Majesty Muani-Lunga, King of Kazonde” appeared, looking more like a decrepit gorilla. He was accompanied by numerous wives and a retinue of flatterers. Alvets, knowing about the local king’s addiction to alcohol, invited him to drink a strong punch. When the old drunkard drank the flaming drink, “his majesty, thoroughly intoxicated, burst into flames” and died on the spot.

Chapter 12. The King's Funeral

Muani-Lung's first wife, "Queen Muana was to inherit the royal throne." She hastened to organize her husband's funeral and consolidate her position. A large pit was dug, where, according to the old tradition, the remaining wives of the king were thrown. According to Negoro's plan, the tied Dick was to be thrown there, and then the pit was to be flooded with water.

Chapter 13. At the trading post

Harris lied that Mrs. Weldon, Jack and Cousin Benedict were dead - they were in Kazonda, alive and unharmed. Negoro placed them at the Alvets trading post in the hope of receiving a large ransom for them. He told Mrs. Weldon to write a letter to her husband, with whom he was going to San Francisco.

Chapter 14. News of Doctor Livingston

Having accidentally overheard Alvetz's conversation with his guest, Mrs. Weldon learned that “perhaps help is approaching, which seems to be sent by Providence itself.” The famous traveler Dr. Livingstone "will probably arrive at Kazonda with his escort in the next few days." However, these plans were not destined to come true - the doctor died on the eve of his visit.

Chapter 15. Where the manticore can lead

Having received a letter from Mrs. Weldon, Negoro set off. Meanwhile, Benedict, who had been freely hunting for insects all this time, in pursuit of a rare ground beetle, found himself outside the walls of the trading post. Unbeknownst to himself, he traveled a couple of miles in the hope of catching an insect.

Chapter 16. Mgannga

The period has begun long rains, threatening to flood all the fields. Queen Muana decided to seek help from Mgannga, a famous sorcerer from Northern Angola. It turned out to be Hercules in disguise, who made it clear to the queen that the white woman and her child were to blame for all the troubles. He took them with him, and even Alvets could not stop him from doing this.

Chapter 17. Downstream

Hercules brought his “trophies” to the boat, where Dick Sand, Benedict and Dingo, whom he had saved, were located. All that was missing were Tom, Bath, Austin and Actaeon, who were driven out of the village towards the Great Lakes. Having disguised the boat as a floating island, the friends began to go down “down the river to the ocean coast.”

Chapter 18. Miscellaneous Events

During their rafting, travelers occasionally went ashore to hunt. The area seemed uninhabited, but one day they sailed past the village, and it was only by miracle that the savages did not notice them. The friends were forced to moor to the shore as the river rushed down in a “rapid, majestic waterfall.”

Chapter 19. “S. IN."

As soon as he was on the shore, Dingo rushed forward, picking up someone's trail. A smart dog led travelers to a miserable shack in which human bones lay. Nearby on the tree were visible “two large half-erased red letters” - S. V. Dick found out that the deceased was the traveler Samuel Vernon, who became a victim of the treacherous guide Negoro.

Suddenly, “a terrible scream was heard from outside” - it was Dingo who attacked Negoro, who, before sailing, returned to the scene of his crime to take Vernon’s money from his hiding place. Negoro mortally wounded the dog, but he “squeezed his jaws with all his might” and gnawed the throat of his old enemy.

Chapter 20. Conclusion

A real gift of fate for travelers was a meeting with a trade caravan that belonged to Portuguese merchants. In complete safety they reached the port, where they boarded a ship and arrived safely in America. Dick Sand became adopted son Weldon, and Hercules is a great friend of the family. The young man “graduated with honors from hydrographic courses” and was preparing to become a captain. The general joy was overshadowed only by thoughts of the bitter fate of dark-skinned friends. However, thanks to Mr. Weldon's connections, all four blacks were returned to their homeland.

Conclusion

With his work, Jules Verne sought to show that any person, regardless of class and the thickness of his wallet, is capable of achieving high altitudes thanks to work, courage and kindness.

In the novel “The Fifteen-Year-Old Captain,” a summary of which you are now reading, events begin to unfold from the moment the schooner “Pilgrim” sets sail from New Zealand in 1873. It is equipped with everything necessary for whaling.

Everything is managed by the experienced captain Gul, with him five experienced and experienced sailors and a 15-year-old junior sailor named Dick Sand. He is an orphan. On the ship are also the cook Negoro and the wife of the ship's owner, Mrs. Weldon, with a five-year-old boy, Jack. This company is complemented by her funny cousin, whom everyone around calls nothing less than Cousin Benedict, and, finally, the old nanny Nan.

Captain Gul's sailboat is sailing to America. The first trouble occurs a few days after the start of the journey. Jack notices the ship overturned on its side. There is a hole in his nose. The crew of the Pilgrim rescues five starving blacks and a dog named Dingo.

From the novel “The Fifteen-Year-Old Captain” (reading a summary is faster than reading the entire work) we learn that their names are Tom, Bath, Austin, Hercules and Actaeon. They are all free US citizens. They say that they were returning from New Zealand, where they worked under contract, to America. Their ship, the Waldeck, collided with another ship, after which the captains and all crew members disappeared, leaving them alone. They continue their journey together with the heroes of the novel, and after some time they look completely healthy and restored.

Whale fishing

In the novel “The Fifteen-Year-Old Captain,” a brief summary of which helps you quickly remember the plot, the mysterious events do not stop there. The dog Dingo is acting suspiciously. Passengers on the Waldeck say their captain picked up the dog in Africa. He constantly growls ferociously as soon as he meets the cook Negoro. He seems to recognize him, constantly expressing his readiness to pounce at the first opportunity. Negoro tries not to be seen by the dog at all.

The only one who has an idea of ​​how to control the ship is actually the cabin boy Dick Sand. He becomes a fifteen-year-old captain. Summary through the chapters of this novel helps to better understand the author's intentions.

Inexperienced captain

Dick patiently teaches the blacks the sailor's craft. He is a courageous and internally mature guy, but he still lacks knowledge about navigation, the ability to navigate the open ocean only using a compass and a device that measures the speed of the ship.

In addition, he does not know how to determine his location by the stars, which the insidious Negoro immediately takes advantage of. The cook breaks one of the compasses and, unnoticed by the others, changes the readings on the second. After that, he disables the lot. All this leads to the fact that the ship, instead of sailing to America, ends up near the coast of Angola. The ship runs aground.

Travelers in Africa

In the novel “The Fifteen-Year-Old Captain” (a brief summary allows you to get acquainted with the main points of the work), Negoro manages to slip away from the ship unnoticed. Only he alone knows for sure where they sailed.

Dick, who went in search of local residents, runs into the American Harris. He is in cahoots with the cook, so he assures our heroes that they actually sailed to Bolivia. Promising them shelter and a roof over their heads, he lures them about a hundred kilometers deep into the mainland. Only after some time do Dick and Tom realize that somehow they ended up in Africa, and not in South America. Harris, realizing that they had discovered him, immediately hides in the forest and goes to meet Negoro.

Only at this point for readers of Verne’s “The Fifteen-Year-Old Captain” (a summary will not replace the work itself) does something begin to become clearer. Harris is actually a slave trader, Negoro also used to be involved in the underground business. It all ended when the authorities in his native Portugal sentenced the cook to life in hard labor. He managed to escape two weeks later and was soon accepted onto the Pilgrim. After that, he immediately began to look for a moment to be in Africa again.

The death of the captain and the inexperience of Dick Sand played into his hands. Now there is a slave caravan nearby that is heading to Kazonde.

Betrayal

As soon as Harris disappears, Dick realizes that they have been betrayed. He decides to walk along the stream until he comes to large river. Assuming such a plan, Harris and Negoro are waiting for them on this path, hoping to take the travelers by surprise.

But until they meet the villains, the heroes of the novel “The Fifteen-Year-Old Captain” by Jules Verne, a summary of which we are now considering, will have to experience the forces of nature. They are hit by rain and thunder. The river overflows its banks, rising several feet above the ground.

Travelers try to wait out the elements in an empty termite mound with thick clay walls. But, having got out of there, they immediately find themselves captured. Dick, Nan and the blacks are sent on the road along with the caravan. Only the resourceful Hercules manages to escape. Mrs. Weldon and her relative are taken away in an unknown direction.

Path in a caravan

Having joined the caravan, Dick and his comrades will endure terrible hardships. They witness the brutal treatment of slaves. Old Nan, unable to withstand the suffering, dies.

In Kazonda, slaves are distributed among barracks. Harris tells Dick that Mrs. Weldon and her son have died. But it was again a deception. Sand, not yet knowing this, in despair snatches the dagger from him and kills the slave trader.

Slave Fair

One of the climaxes of the novel “The Fifteen-Year-Old Captain” (a summary for the reader's diary can be found in this article) is the slave fair. After this, Dick's execution must take place. Negoro, who had seen the scene of the murder of his American comrade and now reasonably fears for his own safety, has already agreed on this with influential people in Kazonda.

The owner of a caravan of slaves named Alvets promises the local king Muani-Lung fire water in case of a successful execution. He readily agrees, because he has not been able to live without alcohol for a long time. It turns out that this was a sophisticated execution for Muani-Lungu himself. Alvets presents him with too strong a punch. When the chief begins to drink, he sets the drink on fire. The king's body, soaked in alcohol, catches fire, and he rots down to his very bones.

His wife Queen Muana arranges a magnificent funeral. During the ceremony, according to tradition, all the other wives of the king are killed so that they will follow him to afterworld. They are dumped into a pit and filled with water. In the same pit is Dick, who was previously tied to a post.

Hostages from "Pilgrim"

At the same time, Mrs. Weldon, along with her son and cousin, lived in Kazonda near Alvets. They are held hostage, Negoro expects to receive a substantial ransom from the owner of the ship.

At his insistence, Mrs. Weldon writes a letter to her husband, with whom Negoro goes to San Francisco. Meanwhile, the hostages live more or less at ease. Cousin Benedict, who has always been interested in collecting insects, is one day pursuing a particularly rare ground beetle. In this pursuit, he accidentally falls into a wormhole and finds himself free. Without noticing this at first, he runs another two miles through the forest in the hope of overtaking the insect. At the end of his journey, Benedict meets Hercules, who has been nearby all this time, hoping to somehow help his friends.

Rain in the village

In the novel "The Fifteen-Year-Old Captain" rare and anomalous events often occur. The next thing is an uncharacteristically heavy and prolonged rain, which floods the fields and threatens to destroy the entire harvest.

Queen Muana calls the sorcerers for help. Hercules catches one of these elders in the forest. Taking his clothes, she pretends to be a mute shaman driving away clouds. He takes the queen by the hand and persistently leads her to Alvets’s estate. With signs, he indicates that a white woman and a little boy must answer for all the troubles of her people. So he helps them free themselves from the village. Alvets tries to resist this, but retreats before the onslaught of savages.

Only after walking eight miles through the jungle and freeing himself from those accompanying him does Hercules reveal himself to Mrs. Weldon and her son. Here they meet Dick, who was also saved by Hercules, as well as Benedict and the dog Dingo. In conclusion, only the blacks remain, who have already been sold and driven away from the village.

Path to the Ocean

The heroes of “The Fifteen-Year-Old Captain,” a summary of which in a few minutes will remind you of the main ups and downs of the novel, are making another attempt to get to the ocean. They go down the river on their boat.

Soon they encounter a village of cannibals. But thanks to the fact that their boat was disguised as a floating island, they manage to sail past.

During the next stop, Dingo, as soon as he finds himself on the shore, rushes forward, sensing someone’s trail. He leads them to a hut with human bones scattered throughout. There are two bloody letters on the wall - "S.V." The same letters are engraved on the dog's collar. There is also a note in the shack, from which the travelers learn that Samuel Vernon suffered at the hands of Negoro, who was his guide. The insidious villain mortally wounded him and robbed him.

At the same moment, Dingo takes off and grabs the throat of the sneaking Negoro. Before sailing to America, he decided to return to the scene of the crime to retrieve the money stolen from Vernon from the cache. Negoro wounds the dog with a knife, and he dies, unable to avenge his owner. But Negoro still cannot escape fair punishment.

Meeting with the savages

But this is not all the tests for the characters in the novel “The Fifteen-Year-Old Captain.” In the summary it is necessary to mention the episode of the meeting with the cannibals.

Having dealt with Negoro, Dick decides to cross to the right bank, fearing the cook’s comrades from the Pilgrim. But there he is attacked by cannibals, whom they met a few days ago and were not aware that they were pursuing them overland. They noticed the boat with people, but at the very last moment, when it was already far away.

A hail of arrows falls on Dick, the savages jump straight into his boat. She is rapidly carried towards the waterfall. All the savages die, and only the 15-year-old captain escapes by hiding in a boat.

Finally, the travelers reach the ocean. They manage to board a ship and sail to California. Dick is accepted as a son into the Weldon family. At the age of 18, he completed his courses and became captain of one of Weldon's schooners.

Both Hercules and the blacks, who manage to be redeemed from slavery and freed, remain a friend of the family. The novel ends with the date November 15, 1877. It is then that four blacks, who have endured so many dangers, finally find themselves in the friendly arms of the Weldons.

The schooner "Pilgrim" moves towards San Francisco. There are a lot of people on board, among them Captain Gul, five experienced sailors, a fifteen-year-old junior sailor - orphan Dick Sand, the ship's cook Negoro, as well as the wife of the owner of the Pilgrim, James Weldon - Mrs. Weldon with her five-year-old son Jack, her eccentric relative, whom everyone called “Cousin Benedict”, and the old black nanny Nun.

On the way, they pick up five emaciated blacks: Tom, Bath, Austin, Actaeon and Hercules and the dog Dingo. Their boat collided with another vessel, leaving their vessel disabled. The sailors from the Pilgrim were leaving these people, and for some reason Dingo, when he saw the cook Negoro, showed a grin as if he knew him.

After some time, Captain Gal and five other sailors die while hunting for a whale. A fifteen-year-old boy, Dick Sand, dares to take on the authority of captain of the Pilgrim. But due to his inability to use navigation, the ship lands not in America, but in Africa, which the guy is unaware of.

Cook Negoro disappears unnoticed by everyone when the ship washes ashore. As it turned out later, he enters into a conspiracy with his old acquaintance Harris. It consisted of Harris telling the arriving sailors that they were on the shores of Bolivia, although they were in Africa.

As it turned out, Negoro and Harris knew each other a long time ago, when Negoro was involved in the slave trade. Cook was sentenced to life in hard labor, but he was able to escape and got a job on the brig Pilgrim.

Harris led the sailors deeper tropical forest, but the deceived began to realize that they were far from being in America, they realized that Africa was around them. Dick Sand regards the disappearance of Harris as a betrayal, who disappeared from Negoro, in turn, wants to capture Dick Sand, the blacks, Nun, Mrs. Weldon and her son, as well as cousin Benedict.

Dick Sand and his men decide to cross the river on a raft, but the river suddenly overflows its banks and the travelers are forced to hide in a termite mound. But when they left there, the blacks, Dick and Nun were taken prisoner by the leader of the slave caravan, who was an acquaintance of Harris, Mrs. Weldon and her son were taken to an unknown location. Later, Nun dies, unable to withstand crossing the camp, and Dick, having heard from Harris that Mrs. Weldon and her son had died, kills him, but Dick did not know that it was a lie. Negoro, in turn, wants to take revenge on Dick for his friend, so he asks permission to kill Dick Send from Alvets, the owner of the slave caravan and a very influential person in Kazonda, as well as from Muani-Lung, the local king. Later, Muani-Lunga burns to the ground after drinking the punch that Alvets prepared for him.

Dick is about to be executed. On the day of Muani-Lung's funeral, he is tied to a pole and suspended over a boiling pit, in which, according to tradition, all the wives lie, except the one who arranged the funeral.

At this moment, Mrs. Weldon, her son and cousin Benedict are being held hostage by Negoro, who wants to obtain a large ransom for them from Mr. Weldon. But this intention is not destined to come true.

Negoro travels to San Francisco and leaves the hostages under the care of Alvets. Cousin Benedict was very fond of insects, and when he enthusiastically ran after one of the flying specimens, he suddenly found himself free. There he meets Hercules, who was able to escape before his brothers were captured. Hercules figures out how to help his friends and brothers. When there were long rains in the village, the wife of the deceased Muani-Lunga, Queen Muana, calls the sorcerer, who pretends to be Hercules. The guy, supposedly a mute sorcerer, shows with signs that the prisoners are the culprits of the rains. In general, he saved Dick Sand from death, Mrs. Weldon, her son, cousin Benidict and the dog Dingo, but he could not save his brothers, since they were sold into slavery. Then all the surviving prisoners go on a boat disguised as a floating island, go down the river, but it turns out that they pass the island of cannibals. Travelers stop on the opposite bank to avoid falling into the waterfall. There they discover human bones, a note and an inscription in blood on a tree: “S. IN.". Suddenly Dingo takes off, and a human scream is heard nearby. The dog grabbed the throat of Negoro, who once killed Dingo's owner Samuel Vernon, and now came to take the money hidden in the cache, after which he wanted to leave for America. Negoro kills the dog with a knife, and he himself dies from the bite.

The travelers go to the island of cannibals so as not to meet any of Negoro's friends. But on the island, the survivors are attacked by cannibals. But the latter die due to a shot oar. The travelers reach the ocean and soon find themselves home.

Dick Sand completed hydrographic courses and became captain of James Weldon's ship; he is considered a son in this family, and Hercules is a friend. His relatives were ransomed from captivity, and now they are the most invited guests in Weldon’s house.