The Fifteen-Year-Old Captain

First published in 1878, the novel by French writer and classic of science fiction and adventure literature Jules Verne, "The Fifteen-Year-Old Captain" tells the story of the adventures of young Dick Sand, who by chance is forced to take command of the whaling schooner "Pilgrim," heading for America, and the responsibility for the lives of its crew and passengers. In the open sea and in the continental depths of Equatorial Africa, the heroes of the book face many dangers and often stare death in the face. A deadly confrontation with slave-trading bandits, a stay in a village of sorcerers, risky encounters with cannibal savages, predatory animals, and the swift waters of an African river — through these and many other trials, Dick and his companions must pass before they escape from the sinister depths of the African continent....