Essay “The plot of Jules Verne’s novel “The Fifteen-Year-Old Captain.” Brave travelers of the novel Zh
Readers of this novel can easily remember its summary. “The Fifteen-Year-Old Captain” is written in simple and vivid language. It captures the special entrepreneurial spirit of the 19th century, the century of discovery and invention. Perhaps only Jules Verne could create like this.
Flight to San Francisco
The great Frenchman wrote practically about his contemporaries. Judge for yourself: the schooner-brig “Pilgrim” departs from the New Zealand port of Oakland on January 29, 1873, and the book itself was published in 1878. Its route, according to the original plan, runs along the Pacific Ocean through the Chilean seaport of Valparaiso and ends in San Francisco.
The ship belongs to a wealthy man, James Weldon. The voyage is a whaling one, the ship is led by an experienced captain Gul, under his command are five sailors, cabin boy Dick Sand and cook Negoro.
There are also passengers on board. This is the wife of the owner of the ship - Mrs. Weldon, his five-year-old son Jack, the boy's nanny - an elderly black woman Nan and, finally, an eccentric entomologist who is the boy's uncle, whom everyone calls only "Cousin Benedict."
Unexpected travel companions
A brief summary further tells about the restless, adventure-filled voyage of the Pilgrim. “The Fifteen-Year-Old Captain” introduces intrigue into the plot from the first chapter. Five-year-old Jack Whalon is the first to notice an overturned ship in the distance and informs others about it. The shipwrecked Waldeck is doomed. On board are black Americans left in a hurry in their cabin by the escaped crew. They return home after completing contract work on a New Zealand plantation. There are five of them: old Tom with his son Bath, as well as young people Actaeon, Hercules and Austin. With them is a large dog, Dingo, picked up by the captain of the Waldeck somewhere in Africa. Moreover, the dog apparently knows Negoro, since it shows aggression towards him.
Trouble
Soon disaster strikes on the Pilgrim - five sailors and the captain die while going on a boat to catch a whale. Further, a brief summary testifies to the strength of spirit of Dick Sand, an orphan, a junior sailor. The fifteen-year-old captain (Dick's age) takes command of the ship without any doubt.
However, his knowledge of navigation is clearly not enough. He knows how to choose a direction with a compass and measure the speed of movement using a lot. He doesn’t know how to determine his location using the stars.
Negoro's dark personality
The Portuguese Negoro (we will learn about this a little later) is an escaped convict. He was sentenced by the authorities of his country for the slave trade, but escaped and wants to go back to Africa to continue to engage in the same criminal business. That is why Negoro got a job as a cook on the sailing ship Pilgrim. The death of the captain and experienced sailors significantly increased the convict’s chances of quickly ending up in Africa. To do this, it was only necessary to deceive Dick Sand by sending him instead of Quiet to Indian Ocean.
Next, a brief summary tells us about the implementation of the criminal plan. The fifteen-year-old captain turns out to be truly disoriented. After all, the criminal broke one compass, and the second one shows the south instead of the north direction. This trick - “taming the compass needle” - was performed by the convict Negoro, who was familiar with navigation first-hand, by placing an ax under the device. The ship, instead of San Francisco, is approaching the shores of Angola.
On the coast of Angola
"Pilgrim" is thrown ashore by the waves. Negoro is secretly hiding.
However, further trials and challenges await Dick Sand. He is met here by Negoro's accomplice, the American Harris, who convinces the travelers that they are in Bolivia. The classic gang of villainous slave traders adds intrigue to the further narrative (as evidenced by the summary). “The Fifteen-Year-Old Captain” (Chapter 2) begins with the fact that, as an imaginary guide, he lures travelers a hundred miles deep into the African forest with deception (the promise of shelter and rest with his brother). The joint criminal plan of Negoro and Harris is to sell some of the travelers into slavery, and receive a generous ransom of $100,000 for the relatives of the rich man Weldon. Not far from the place where Harris sent Dick Sand and his fellow travelers, a caravan with slaves stopped, led by Negoro’s acquaintance, Alvets.
Travelers realize the deception
The villains act coherently, they succeed in almost everything (as evidenced by the summary). The fifteen-year-old captain, however, begins to suspect Harris of lying. The travelers he leads (supposedly through the Bolivian jungle) notice circumstances that do not at all identify their location with South America. Approaching the river bed, they alarmed several hippos resting in shallow water, as well as giraffes (the latter, due to the fact that they were at a considerable distance, were mistaken for ostriches). One day, Cousin Benedict was almost stung by a fly that resembled a tsetse fly. As an entomologist, he immediately asked himself the relevant questions. Moreover, the lenses of the scientist’s glasses soon turned out to be completely broken; someone stepped on them. After all, even if there were no experienced pathfinders among the Americans, they quickly found their bearings and learned along the way. This team intelligence of theirs is what underscores the summary. The “fifteen-year-old captain” (Jules Verne) gradually brings the imaginary guide, the liar Harris, whose distrust towards him is growing, to He is also forced to flee after the travelers discover a terrible discovery associated specifically with cannibalism in Africa - severed hands.
Captivity
Dick Sand tracks down Negoro and Harris and overhears their conversation, indicating a criminal conspiracy. Realizing that they are in danger, they try to leave the forest, but slave traders are keeping a close eye on them. One morning, after spending the night in a termite mound that protected tropical rain, the travelers are captured on a tip from these two scoundrels by thugs from a slave caravan. Moreover, Hercules manages to escape from these robbers.
A brief summary tells us about the long, difficult journey of the captives. "The Fifteen-Year-Old Captain" (Jules Verne) describes their humiliation and suffering on the way to Angola's notorious slave market, Kazonda. An elderly black woman, the nanny of five-year-old Jack, Nan, dies along the route of this difficult hike. However, several captured travelers intended for ransom by the scoundrels (Mrs. Weldon, her little son and cousin Benedict) are transported by Negoro in more comfortable conditions.
Kazonda. Punishment for the villain
Slaves arriving in Kazonda are placed in barracks. Dick Sand is worried about the fate of Mrs. Weldon and her son. Those are transported separately and placed in the trading post of the caravan owner, Weldon. Having met the deceiver Harris in Kazenda, he tries to ask him about this. However, the scoundrel, having decided to mock the guy, deceives him, saying that they are dead. However, he does not expect that he is saying this to an adult man who has matured in difficult circumstances, as evidenced by the subsequent episode (or rather, its very brief content). The fifteen-year-old captain snatches Garris' knife and fatally stabs him. Travelers now have one less dangerous enemy.
Negoro wants Dick Sand executed
Negoro watches the murder of his associate in dark affairs from afar. He decides to destroy Dick Sand. To do this, he only needs to come to an agreement with his partner in human trafficking, who has influence in the slave market, Alvets. The fifteen-year-old captain, they decide, will be publicly executed immediately after the sale of slaves is completed. To implement this plan, Alvets must obtain formal permission for this execution from the ruler of the Angolan native tribe Muani-Lungu.
Alvets had experience in settling such cases. He knew the fee that Muani-Lungu would charge for permission to perform a public ritual murder. It is enough to present the leader with punch in an amount equivalent to the amount of blood in the body of the unfortunate victim. The native king, dependent on alcohol, is a pitiful sight. He was an alcoholic in the last stages.
The Unsightly Death of a Leader
Alvets succeeds, and even in the most favorable price, sell all dark-skinned slaves. However, Negoro hopes to earn even more than the owner of the caravan (a rich ransom in the amount of a fortune - $100,000). That's why he keeps Mrs. Weldon, her son Jack, who is seriously ill with malaria, and their cousin Benedict under round-the-clock guard in a separate house.
Negoro also manages, by deceiving Mrs. Weldon with the news of the imaginary death of Dick Sand, to obtain a ransom letter written in her hand. However, the scoundrels fail to immediately initiate the execution of the former cabin boy.
The further summary of the story looks tragicomic. The fifteen-year-old captain actually receives a reprieve of execution, but now he is not the only one going to be killed. Events took a different turn because of... the joy of the huckster Alvets from the profit received. To celebrate, the slave trader Alvets decided to bring punch to Muani-Lung in the most presentable, burning form. However, he did not take into account that he was dealing with a complete alcoholic. When the leader touched the cup with his lips, his body, soaked in alcohol from many years of outpourings, flared up, and the leader burned out in a matter of minutes.
The savages now had no time to execute some pale-faced boy, because the leader’s funeral was coming up! Instead of a separate execution of the former cabin boy "Pilgrim", a mega-execution of all his wives (except his beloved) and slaves, including Dick, was planned.
The real hero is Hercules. The rescue
Above is a summary of “The Fifteen-Year-Old Captain” chapter by chapter, as you noticed, it completely falls into the genre of a Robinsonade novel with a happy ending. It seems that not only circumstances, but also nature itself helps our travelers.
The Negro Hercules, who escaped from the slave traders, lurks next to the Alvets trading post, waiting for the moment to help his comrades. And then an accident occurs that activates his actions. The eccentric cousin Benedict, without understanding how, while chasing a butterfly with a net, suddenly finds himself free. There he meets Hercules, and he comes up with a plan to save his friends. Now the mighty black man knows where Mrs. Weldon and her son are. suffers famine due to the flooding of fertile lands by rains. Superstitious people look for the cause of trouble in evil witchcraft.
The desperate natives called a powerful sorcerer from a neighboring village to “resolve the issue.” Hercules, having tied up a real clergyman and dressed in his outfit, presents himself as a mute sorcerer. He appears to the dowager queen (former beloved wife), without further ado he takes her hand and leads her to the Alvets estate. A crowd of fanatics follows him, believing the sorcerers unquestioningly. He shows the queen the cause of all misfortunes - the white woman and her son. It becomes clear to everyone: only by taking them outside the village and performing the ritual of killing the infidels will the sorcerer return fertility to the land.
Hercules, taking advantage of the status of Mgannga's sorcerer, thus manages to take Mrs. Weldon, her son Jack, cousin Benedict and Dick Sand out in a boat. Alvets, whom Negoro entrusted with guarding the hostages, found himself powerless in front of the crowd of fanatics. The travelers are saved.
A fifteen-year-old captain leads his friends to freedom.
Unfortunately, the blacks, Hercules' friends, have already been sold and taken by buyers.
Travelers, hoping to return to America, float down the river to the ocean, disguising the boat as a floating island, hiding from the eyes of cannibals. The roar of the waterfall is heard ahead, and Dick Sand stops the boat on the left bank. Suddenly Dingo rushed forward, following the trail. The travelers behind the dog came to a dugout where, restless, lay the remains of Dingo’s owner, Samuel Vernon, treacherously killed by his guide, Negoro. Near the body were the last notes mortally wounded person containing this charge. Suddenly the travelers heard the growl of a dog and the cry of Negoro, they intertwined in their last fight. The convict mortally wounded the dog with a knife, and the dog tore his throat.
Negoro, to his misfortune, came to the hut to take money from the hiding place. He needed them to travel to America for a ransom from Mr. Weldon.
Meeting at home
Then the travelers happily reach the coast of the Indian Ocean and on August 25, 1874, sail to the Californian coast. Does “The Fifteen-Year-Old Captain” by J. Verne have a life-affirming content? The grateful Mr. Weldon adopts Dick Sand, gives him a proper maritime education, and he becomes captain on his named father's ship. An orphan gets a family! Hercules enters Mr. Weldon's house as a true family friend.
Mr. Weldon manages to redeem four blacks, companions of Hercules, from slavery, and they (Tom, Bath, Austin and Actaeon) sail in November 1877 from Africa to the hospitable home of the Weldons.
Conclusion
Jules Verne, The Fifteen-Year-Old Captain... Summary does not convey all the charm of this work; it must be re-read in its entirety. The novel can be interpreted in different ways. Like Robinsonade. As an example for young men to be courageous and take responsibility. As an example of maintaining human relationships in the most difficult situations. Everyone finds something of their own in this novel... Of course, it is most loved among children and youth. This fascinating book has been popular and attracts readers for the third century.
On January 29, 1873, the schooner-brig Pilgrim, equipped for whaling, sets 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 Nun. 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 uses. 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, being 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, guessing 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's 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, Nun 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 Nun 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 a white man’s blood. 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 facilitate the implementation of his plan, and, leaving the hostages in the care of Alvetz, 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 amazed queen by the hand and leads her to the Alvets trading post. There he shows with signs that the white woman and her are to blame for the troubles of her people. 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 of the curious villagers, Hercules lowers Mrs. WELDON and Jack into the 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.
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, being 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 not in South America, but 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 engaged in the slave trade; Negoro was also familiar with this trade for a long time, until the authorities of Portugal, where he is 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's 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 a white man’s blood. 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 the white woman and her are to blame for the troubles of her people. 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 the 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 come across 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.
Geographical reading of the novel by Jules Verne
"Captain at fifteen"
Integrated Geography and Literature Lesson
L.M. GOREPEKINA
geography teacher,
N.I. NEMYKIN
teacher of Russian language
school "Iskorka", Belgorod
His dreams are all over the world map
They left their life-giving sign.
I. Severyanin. "Jules Verne"
We invite you to take a fascinating retro journey across a geographical map together with the heroes of J. Verne’s wonderful adventure novel “The Fifteen-Year-Old Captain.” We hope that many geographical terms will now sound poetically sublime in your hearts. Read travel and adventure books along with a geographical map!
Lesson type. Lesson of generalization and systematization of acquired knowledge.
Lesson form. Retro travel.
Equipment. Physical card hemispheres, atlases, contour maps; children's scientific and educational geographical encyclopedias and magazines; ancient cartographic attributes (pumpkins, shells, twigs); photocopies of ancient and modern maps (from pages of children's magazines and encyclopedias); components of a homemade compass (needles, foam, bowls of water); computer, videotapes (or disks) with film adaptations of the novel (“The Fifteen-Year-Old Captain,” 1947; “Captain of the Pilgrim,” 1988) and the National Geographic Society documentary “Whales.”
Preparatory work. Read J. Verne’s novel “The Fifteen-Year-Old Captain”, read encyclopedic articles and magazine publications (topics “History of Geographical Maps”, “Geographical Poles”, “Jules Verne”).
The class is divided into two teams. Each team chooses a name and a captain.
(A recording of A. Makarevich’s song “For those at sea” is played.)
Teacher. Today we are going on a journey with the crew of the schooner "Pilgrim", along with Dick Sand, his friends and enemies. In today's lesson we will make our journey on the map. A map is a kind of encrypted riddle (and who doesn’t like to solve interesting riddles?); this is a palette of secret geographical colors, behind which mountains and rivers, waterfalls and deserts, disappeared cities and new islands are hidden; this is a treasure trove of hidden geographical discoveries. The heroes of the wonderful French writer Jules Verne will help us solve cartographic puzzles.
On February 2, 1873, the schooner was in latitude 43°57" south and longitude 165°19" west from Greenwich.
Let's place the ship on the map at the given coordinates and try to tell about the time of year in this place. What does 165°19" west of Greenwich mean? Student response. One student attaches a boat figurine to the wall map, and everyone else completes the task on the outline maps.
Teacher. The schooner "Pilgrim" set off on an exciting and dangerous journey. Let's try to restore the route of J. Verne's heroes. Moreover, we have to restore two routes of the Pilgrim: the one along which Captain Hull intended to take the ship, and the one along which sea travelers were forced to follow due to the machinations of Negoro.
One of the students reads a fragment from J. Verne’s novel “The Fifteen-Year-Old Captain” highlighting geographical names.
“James Weldon annually sent a whole flotilla of ships to the northern seas, for Bering Strait, as well as in the seas of the Southern Hemisphere, to Tasmania and to Cape Horn “Pilgrim” was considered one of the best ships in the flotilla. His progress was excellent. Excellent equipment allowed him and a small team to reach the very border solid ice Southern Hemisphere.
Captain Hull knew how to maneuver, as the sailors say, among the floating ice floes that drift south in the summer New Zealand And Cape of Good Hope, that is, at lower latitudes than at northern seas. True, these are only small icebergs, already cracked and washed away by warm water, and most of them quickly melt into Atlantic or Pacific Ocean ».
While reading the text, the children find the so-called geographical objects on the atlas map.
1st team. Determine coordinates Cape Horn (55° S and 67° W) and Cape of Good Hope (34° S and 18° E).
2nd team. Between what parallels and meridians do the islands lie? New Zealand (35°-45° S and 164°-178° E) and Tasmania (41°-43° S and 145°-149° E)?
Teacher. Who deserves the credit for the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope?
Let's place the ship on the map at the given coordinates and try to tell about the time of year in this place. What does 165°19" west of Greenwich mean? In 1487-1488
Teacher. Bartolomeu Dias was the first to circumnavigate Africa from the south, paving the way to the Indian Ocean, which was considered a closed sea.
The crew of the Pilgrim was outfitting itself for a whale hunt. (Hunting these giant mammals is currently prohibited.) The schooner's crew were experienced whalers. Danger came unexpectedly - in the form of a distraught and enraged mother whale: she rushed to protect her little calf with such despair that when she died, she took the experienced whaler sailors and their captain into the ocean depths. And the Pilgrim remained under the command of a fifteen-year-old boy.
The guys spend a few minutes thinking about who they feel more sorry for in this fight: the female who courageously defended her cub, or the tragically dead sailors.
Teacher. What do you think, did J. Verne accidentally name the whaling schooner in his novel exactly that?
Student answers:
Of course not. Synonyms for the word “pili-grim” are wanderer, wayfarer, traveler. The name of the ship prepares readers of the novel for travel and adventure.
Pilgrims are brave, courageous people who are not afraid of any obstacles or surprises. They love to travel and take risks.
Teacher. Yes, extreme situations for Dick Sand and his friends, unfortunately, did not end with the death of Captain Hull. And now they arose thanks to the efforts of the false cook Negoro.
On the eve of his death, the captain managed to map the position of the ship: it was located at 43°35" S and 164°13" W. d. Let us determine the location of the “Pilgrim” on our maps.
Teacher. The guys discover that the schooner has moved not far relative to the point that we have already marked on the map. Let me remind you that the passengers had only one desire: to get to Valparaiso
or to some other nearest port on the American coast. Let's see which port they could sail to sooner.
Children's versions are heard.
Teacher. In order to bring the ship to the designated place, Dick Sand needed to be able to determine the ship's position on the high seas. What instruments at his disposal would help make accurate measurements? The guys talk about the sextant, chronometer, log and compass. They say that the young captain could only use a compass and a log. Unfortunately, he did not know how to handle sextant- a device with which it was possible to determine the height of the luminaries, and from it - the latitude of the ship. He did not learn to calculate longitude from the hour angle using chronometer. In those times great importance had astronomical abilities, but the celestial bodies still remained a mystery to Dick Sand. Therefore, he had at his disposal two compasses and
Teacher. lag
- a device for measuring the speed of a ship and the distance traveled. Now remember what the ship’s cook did to ensure that the inexperienced captain brought the ship to Africa.
Short stories
children about the machinations of Negoro. heavy object which he brought with him.
For a minute he looked at the card illuminated in the binnacle and then silently disappeared.
If Dick Sand, who replaced Tom in the morning, had noticed the object Negoro had placed under the binnacle, he would hasten to remove it, because Negoro had placed an iron bar under the compass. Under the influence of this piece of iron, the compass readings changed, and instead of indicating the direction magnetic pole , which is slightly different from the direction on celestial pole , the arrow now pointed to the northeast: this deviation reached four points, that is, half a right angle.”
Teacher. Tell us what poles you are talking about.
Messages from Team Members (by pages teaching aids and encyclopedias).
The word “pole” translated from ancient Greek means “axis”. This word is used in various senses in geographical sciences. But most often they mean the geographic pole, called here the celestial pole, and the magnetic pole. Geographic poles are the two points at which the imaginary axis around which the Earth rotates reaches the surface.
All meridians converge at these points. Earth is essentially a large magnet. Observations have shown that the direction of the compass needle usually does not coincide with the direction on geographic pole
, that is, it makes a certain angle with the meridian; this angle is called magnetic declination. And the magnetic pole has the ability to change its place. In many sources you can now read that the North Magnetic Pole is located in the area of the Canadian Archipelago. However, it has now moved to neutral waters of the Atlantic Ocean and is slowly moving towards Russian territorial waters. The magnetic needle fluctuates even during the day. This is how the restless state of the huge magnet - the Earth - responds. That's why to detect changes magnetic field
There is a constantly operating network of stations on Earth, from which magnetic maps are compiled, allowing one to determine the exact position of a ship at sea or an aircraft in the air.
Teacher. Based on the text of the novel, we will try to trace how much the direction of the ship changed from the given direction after Negoro placed an iron bar under the compass.
Draw a diagram of the main and intermediate sides of the horizon. Show the bearing*** on the diagram and the direction of the ship's movement on the map. 1st team.
2nd team. Determine and show in which direction the schooner should have moved.
Let's place the ship on the map at the given coordinates and try to tell about the time of year in this place. What does 165°19" west of Greenwich mean?
Determine and show how the ship actually moved. The guys are doing homemade compasses
Teacher. and with their help they determine the sides of the horizon, confirming their answers with the help of school compasses.
For many thousands of years, a map has remained a necessary item for people's orientation. And cartography began many thousands of years ago - this is evidenced by ancient maps on reindeer horns, on mammoth tusks, on stone. It can be assumed that with the help of primitive lines and squiggles, people tried to show the way to the most important objects of their life.
Messages from Team Members
During the time of Jules Verne, there were many legends about him and his books. The writer’s rich erudition led to the fact that many people thought that a whole staff of scientists was hiding under his name. The writer made almost no factual errors, collected a huge card index on various branches of knowledge, wrote scientific works, illustrated geography. Therefore, we can assume that his famous card index contained information from the history of cartography. What exactly could be included on such a card?
Students demonstrate photocopies of old maps, as well as individual homemade cards on a given topic based on the information received.
The ancient inhabitants of the Hawaiian Islands took pumpkin with them on their voyages. On its peel they marked the islands that they passed, and this helped them return back. Polynesian sailors made maps from woven twigs that indicated the direction of currents. Shells on such maps indicated land.
By the end of the 16th century. the most accurate were the maps of the “king of cartography”, the Flemish Gerard Mercator. He proposed a method for constructing maps in which the directions were not distorted, but at the same time the areas of the regions near the poles were greatly distorted. Greenland, for example, looked about the same size as Africa, although in reality it is 12 times smaller. But maintaining directions is very important property, that’s why now nautical maps are made in the Mercator projection.
The guys look at the maps of Mercator and Leonardo da Vinci.
Teacher. And now I propose to replenish the card index of the great French writer with the latest achievements in the field of cartography.
Messages from Team Members
Nowadays, space satellites have come to the aid of cartographers; their information is transmitted to computers, which convert it into maps. Based on satellite data, it is possible to construct a three-dimensional computer map of any corner of our planet. With the help of a space cartograph, you can show the surface and bottom of the ocean, and see the volcanoes of the Kamchatka Peninsula.
GPS (Global Positioning System) is modern system global location determination. It currently has 30 operational satellites. To accurately determine coordinates, it is enough to “see” 4 satellites. Weather conditions are not an obstacle to the operation of the device. In the near future, GPS functionality will be built into most mobile phones, and we will be able to use our phones in class as technical means training.
Students are shown space images and drawings of a sensor that can show its exact location, electronic maps.
Teacher. Yes, if Dick Sand and his friends had such a sensor, they would not be afraid of any of the evil antics of the slave traders and kidnappers. However, so far even we do not have such a sensor. To some extent, we can also be called pilgrims, although we travel without leaving the school office. Jules Verne's favorite heroes are wandering travelers who set out on the road to improve their knowledge and test it with experience. His characters learn while traveling. Today we are trying not only to once again recall the exciting events of the famous novel, but also to apply geographical knowledge to the literary intricacies. Without the good old
geographical map we can't get by.
Blitz check
homework
Literary-geographical questionnaire
1st team
2. The appearance of which island, according to Dick Sand’s erroneous assumptions, was a happy omen? (Part 1, Chapter 12).
[Easter Island: 27° S. and 110° W]
3. Where does Harris say the Pilgrim went down? Where did this actually happen?
[Garris said they were in southern Bolivia, almost on the Chilean border
(at that time Bolivia had access to the Pacific Ocean).
At the 25th parallel. In reality they ended up in Angola -
Part 1, Ch. 15; Part 2, Ch. 2.]
Crew members plot the forced route of the schooner Pilgrim on their contour maps.
2nd team
1. Determine the coordinates of the river mouth. Congo.
2. What island was it really?
[Tristan da Cunha Island:
37° S and 19°E]
3. Where does Dick Sand suppose he abandoned the ship?
[Dick Sand suggested that the crash
happened in Peru.]
The guys from this team mark the path that “Pilgrim” would have made without Negoro’s machinations.
Teacher. For 4 long months, Dick and his friends wandered around the “black” continent, which hid many dangers and dirty lies of the young captain’s enemies. Returning to San Francisco, our fifteen-year-old captain did not feel much relief. On the contrary, he began to be tormented by remorse. Why do you think?
Students' versions and teacher's final words(against the background of music by A. Makarevich for the film “Captain of the Pilgrim”).
Those pangs of conscience that tormented Dick Sand should appear periodically in the soul of every person. The young man could not forgive himself that, due to a lack of knowledge, he was unable to properly cope with his duties on the ship.
“Yes,” he repeated to himself, “if on board the Pilgrim I had known everything that a real sailor should know, how many misfortunes could have been avoided.” And so he began to study textbooks with incredible diligence and zeal of an inquisitive and inquisitive reader. Let us also gain knowledge with an irresistible desire to make amazing discoveries that will decorate our lives and help us overcome life’s difficulties.
In other translations Gul or Gull. Binnacle
*** - the wooden cabinet in which the ship's compass is installed is closed on top with a copper cap, under which the lamps are mounted. Rumba
- 1/32 fraction of a circle, that is 11°15"
On February 2, 1873, the schooner-brig Pilgrim was located at latitude 43°57′ south and longitude 165°19′ west from Greenwich. This vessel, with a displacement of four hundred tons, was equipped in San Francisco for the purpose of hunting whales in southern seas.
The Pilgrim belonged to the wealthy Californian shipowner James Weldon; Captain Gul commanded the ship for many years.
James Weldon annually sent a whole flotilla of ships to the northern seas, beyond the Bering Strait, as well as to the seas of the Southern Hemisphere, to Tasmania and Cape Horn. The Pilgrim was considered one of the best ships in the flotilla. His progress was excellent. Excellent equipment allowed him and a small team to reach the very border of continuous ice in the Southern Hemisphere.
Captain Gul knew how to maneuver, as the sailors say, among the floating ice floes that drift in the summer south of New Zealand and the Cape of Good Hope, that is, at lower latitudes than in the northern seas. True, these are only small icebergs, already cracked and washed out warm water, and most of them are quickly melting in the Atlantic or Pacific Oceans.
On the Pilgrim, under the command of Captain Gul, an excellent sailor and one of the best harpooners of the southern flotilla, there were five experienced sailors and one newcomer. This was not enough: whale hunting requires a fairly large crew to service the boats and to cut up the catch. But Mr. James Weldon, like other shipowners, considered it profitable to recruit in San Francisco only the sailors necessary to operate the ship. In New Zealand, among the natives and deserters of all nationalities, there was no shortage of skilled harpooners and sailors ready to hire out for one season. At the end of the campaign, they received payment and waited on the shore for the next year, when whaling ships might again need their services. With such a system, shipowners saved considerable sums on crew salaries and increased their income from fishing.
This is exactly what James Weldon did when he equipped the Pilgrim for voyage.
The schooner-brig had just completed a whaling campaign on the border of the southern Arctic Circle, but there was still a lot of room in its holds for whalebone and many barrels not filled with blubber. Even at that time, whaling was not an easy task. Whales became rare: the results of their merciless extermination were telling. Real whales began to die out, and hunters had to hunt for minke whales, the hunt for which poses considerable danger.
Captain Gul was forced to do the same, but he expected to go on his next voyage to higher latitudes - if necessary, right up to the lands of Clara and Adele, discovered, as is firmly established, by the Frenchman Dumont d'Urville, no matter how much this was disputed American Wilkes.
Pilgrim was unlucky this year. In early January, at the height of summer in the Southern Hemisphere and, therefore, long before the end of the fishing season, Captain Gul had to leave the hunting site. The auxiliary crew - a collection of rather shady personalities - behaved impudently, the hired sailors shirked work, and Captain Gul was forced to part with it.
The Pilgrim headed north-west and on January 15 arrived at Waitemata, the port of Auckland, located deep in the Hauraki Gulf on the eastern coast of the North Island of New Zealand. Here the captain landed the whalers hired for the season.
The permanent crew of the Pilgrim was unhappy: the schooner-brig did not receive at least two hundred barrels of blubber. Never before have the results of fishing been so disastrous.
Captain Gul was most dissatisfied. The pride of the famous whaler was deeply wounded by the failure: for the first time he returned with such meager booty; he cursed the loafers and parasites who ruined the fishery.
He tried in vain to recruit a new crew in Auckland: the sailors were already employed on other whaling ships. Thus, it was necessary to abandon the hope of additionally loading the Pilgrim. Captain Gul was about to leave Auckland when he was approached with a request to take passengers on board. He could not refuse this.
Mrs. Weldon, the wife of the owner of the Pilgrim, her five-year-old son Jack, and her relative, whom everyone called “Cousin Benedict,” were in Auckland at the time. They arrived there with James Weldon, who occasionally visited New Zealand on trade matters, and intended to return to San Francisco with him. But just before leaving, little Jack became seriously ill. James Weldon was called to America on urgent business, and he left, leaving his wife, sick child and cousin Benedict in Auckland.
Three months passed, three difficult months of separation, which seemed endlessly long to poor Mrs. Weldon. When little Jack recovered from his illness, she began to get ready for the journey. Just at this time, the Pilgrim arrived at the port of Auckland.
At that time, there was no direct connection between Oakland and California. Mrs. Weldon had to first go to Australia to transfer there to one of the transoceanic steamships of the Golden Age Company, connecting Melbourne with passenger flights to the Isthmus of Panama via Papeete. Having reached Panama, she had to wait for an American steamer plying between the isthmus and California.
This route foreshadowed long delays and transfers, especially unpleasant for women traveling with children. Therefore, having learned about the arrival of the Pilgrim, Mrs. Weldon turned to Captain Gul with a request to take her to San Francisco along with Jack, cousin Benedict and Nan, an old black woman who also nursed Mrs. Weldon.