The famous adventure novel by the French writer Jules Verne was first published exactly 130 years ago (1878) in the series Strange Journeys. The story of the fifteen-year-old lifeguard of the American whaling ship Pilgrim Dick Sand about his painful journey first on the ship and then through Africa is known from many editions and adaptations. In addition to lessons from entomology, seafaring and the natural history of Africa, the novel points out the horrors of the slave trade in the second half of the 19th century and highlights the bravery and courage of young people