Jules Verne was born in 1828 in France. His dream was to write a new kind of novel, which combined scientific fact with fiction. Verne eventually wrote 40 novels in his Voyages extraordinaires series. "What one man can imagine, another will someday be able to achieve." Is a quote from an article in the Encyclopedia Britannica that sums up Verne so well. Dick Sand, A Captain at Fifteen is a Jules Verne novel published in 1878. The subject deals with the issue of slavery, and the African slave trade by other Africans in particular. Dick Sand must assume command of a ship after the disappearance of its captain. He is forced to mature very quickly.