Skeletons on the Zahara: A True Story of Survival

Fascinating story! Dean King is an amazing story teller, he has done the research and provides his readers with enough facts and relevant information to understand the background that makes his book a document of both human and historical interest.!

This is a difficult book to read, due to the unimaginable suffering undergone by the survivors of the wrecked American brig Commerce along the Northern Africa coast, but it is also a compelling and tightly written story that will hold the reader's interest and give tremendous insight into life in the barren desert lands of North Africa and the nomadic tribesmen inhabiting that area during the early 19th century. Briefly, the American ship is wrecked along the coast of the Saharan desert, a place well known for ill treatment of shipwrecked sailors by the nomadic tribes in that region, including robbery, torture, murder, but most often being taken as slaves. The brig's crew, after an aborted early escape attempt by lifeboat, are captured and taken as slaves. They were treated in a miserable manner, forced to travel and serve the nomad tribes without adequate food, clothing, shelter, and little ability to communicate with their captors. Several were sold and traded to other tribes and, with the exception of a few somewhat compassionate tribesmen lived a life best compared to those held in WWII concentration work camps. Their only hope was to find and convince one of their slave owners that they would be worth more if taken to more civilized areas of Northern Africa (i.e. Morocco and proximate cities) where the English and French officials would pay money to ransom them. While having no absolute knowledge that they would be successful in obtaining those ransoms, they nevertheless were able to convince (bluff, as it were) one of their more benevolent owners to take them there. The book gives comprehensive insight into the life of the nomads; their almost complete reliance on Camels (with their magnificent ability to subsist on essentially worthless shrubs, little water, and yet travel great distances) to enable their nomadic existence, Nourishment was essentially camel milk, supplemented by the occasional killing of a camel or goat. The Commerce crew would have suffered significantly even if they had been treated equally with the tribesmen, but they had a worse lot, often walking over hot desert lands with inadequate protection from the sun and heat, and getting what little milk or animal offal left after their captors had their fill. Ship's captain Riley, a robust man of over 200 pounds, weighed 90 pounds when he and what was left of his crew were finally ransomed. Much like other shipwreck novels, it is a story of survival, undergoing hardship, and how even under the most adverse conditions men can, and do, keep their will to live and ultimately survive. I enjoyed the book, and learned a lot in reading it.

Great book. Lots better than a good novel because it's real.

Skeletons On The Zahara is an excellent survival story by Dean King. He retells Captain James Riley's account of the 1817 US Brig Commerce shipwreck off the African Sahara desert, their capture by Arabs,enslavement and survival.This is a great action packed true story. I read the 353 page book in 2 days. The reader will not be board and gains much empathy with Captain Riley and his crew. There are some maps and a few B/W pictures of various men. I couldn't put the book down. The reader learns much about the Arabs in this region of African and how they treated Christians as infidel non humans. All they wanted them as slaves, to give them as much work as possible and having to cloth, and feed them as little as possible. Many were thought so little of, they were bought for as little as a blanket by other Arabs. If the slaves were lucky and perceived to have ransom value they were ransomed to diplomat consuls.They are captured by savage Arabs that enslave them. They treat Riley and his crew poorly with torture and almost starvation. They strip them of their clothing and many times the crew are almost naked. Their skin peals off in great sheets. Almost nothing to eat. Many times they must drink their own urine, others urine or camel urine to relieve their thirst. Camel milk helps keep them alive. A few of the Arabs showed some compassion even though they wanted the money of the slaves ransom. Riley and crew became walking skeletons with severe medical problems ( example 200 plus pound man down to 90 pounds).One almost goes blind. Some did not live many years after arriving back in the US. All were severely affected mentally and physically the rest of their lives. Only 1 lived to old age 82.I won't ruin the great ending David King tells about the ending of the survivors and helper lives.We see the long trek across the coast of the Sahara and eventually Riley and his crew are ransomed to the British consul .The British consul William Willshire helps save the Captain and four of his crew. Later two more are saved. Three are never heard from again.In his boyhood President Lincoln read Riley's book of the shipwreck of the Commerce and their survival and escape in the Sahara desert. It was one of his favorites. Look at all the 5 star reviews by reviewers. This is an excellent classic survival story. 5 stars and proudly added to our family library.

Couldn't put it down . One of the most fascinating stories I've ever read.

I read this book detailing a shipwreck while on a group walking holiday in the Greek Islands, including on two boat trips! In the book the crew survived the shipwreck but were then cast ashore on the Barbary Coast and taken by locals into the Sahara (Zahara) Desert. I'd often inform my fellow holiday makers of the various deprivations and horrors the survivors had to endure and they would say to me "Why would you read such a distressing book?" I began to ask myself the same question but this is a true story and I think the answer is that it is inspiring to read how much the human body and spirit can endure and you also begin to ask yourself how you would cope in similar circumstances. Despite some of the horrible events described in the book I did really enjoy it and I followed it up with a similar book 'Death Raft' by Alexander McGee about the wreck of the ship Medusa which someone told me was similar.I chose this book because it was by Dean King the biographer of Patrick O'Brian and as I'd recently just finished reading the entire 'Master and Commander' series, I presumed this book would also be about seafaring adventures. However, although the first few chapters do deal with an ocean voyage the majority of the book is about what happened to the crew on land after they were shipwrecked.

An incredible story of life. A story that all Americans and British should read to understand the West's early conflict with Islam in North Africa. I was amazed and in awe of these men. The depth of faith and cruelty under the all seeing Eye of God.

Being shipwrecked is never pleasant, but being shipwrecked on Africa's endless Sahara coastline is about as bad as it gets. The misadventures of the poor crew members of the American brig "Commerce", hailing from the lush green hills along the Connecticut river, and having to survive in the bone-dry and hellishly hot Sahara, make for depressing reading. Departing in 1815, just after the end of the War of 1812, The "Commerce" makes a stop in New Orleans, then crosses the Atlantic and intends to sail south along the Canaries. The captain loses his bearings due to an unexpectedly fast ocean current, and the ship runs aground on the rocks near Cape Bojador, with all crew surviving.Suffering from terrible thirst, hunger and sunburn, they are eventually taken captive by the thoroughly nasty tribes inhabiting this forbidding part of our planet. Their new masters - albeit rather pious - treat them worse than slaves, at times preferring to throw away scarce water than feed it to their captives. Even the women in the tribe enthusiastically participate in mistreating the poor castaways. Probably unintentionally, 'Skeletons on the Zahara' is the ideal vacation book for cultural relativists - it might actually make them think.I do not want to give away the story, so suffice it to say that this is a book well worth reading - it is well written, riveting and provides lots of food for thought. It is a good idea to read it in small instalments, otherwise the endless suffering gets a bit too repetitive.

This novel is a true story of survival from the shipwreck at sea to the sands of the sahara. Got it a bargain price in excellent condition. A lot of research went into the writing. I find it captivating - in fact, any adventure based on reality is always a superior reading experience than any fictitious make-believe fairy-tale. The legendary Lawrence of Arabia would agree I'm sure.