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"'Dean King has brought to life one of the great, true-life adventure stories - a riveting tale of suffering and redemption.' Nathaniel Philbrick"
Book Description
In the tradition of In the Heart of the Sea and A Perfect Storm, a gripping story of survival in the 19th century Sahara.
'Dean King has brought to life one of the great, true-life adventure stories - a riveting tale of suffering and redemption.' Nathaniel Philbrick
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a really fascinating story in the vein of all the best survival books. What differentiates it from most survival stories is its setting in the Sahara, not an icy waste, and the date it occurred - 1815.
The treatment of the shipwrecked sailors is nothing short of shocking by today's standards. They were treated as a commodity to be traded, and yet this is eerily similar to the treatment doled out to black africans by white slavers. In an uncomfortable table-turning, we come to appreciate some of the injustices doled out by humanity.
The fact that some of the sailors survived is nothing short of miraculous, and fortitude of the ship's captain, Riley is the key to this. There is no doubt that those who escaped were extremely fortunate and this is what keeps this book gripping. The other fascinating element of the book is the attitude of the sailors to their captors. Some captors were better than others, and the blinkered viewpoint of sailors to start with was considerably broadened by their experiences, particularly the strength and commitment to some of the locals to freeing them.
Read this book and enjoy - and be grateful you're not enslaved in the Sahara.
The treatment of the shipwrecked sailors is nothing short of shocking by today's standards. They were treated as a commodity to be traded, and yet this is eerily similar to the treatment doled out to black africans by white slavers. In an uncomfortable table-turning, we come to appreciate some of the injustices doled out by humanity.
The fact that some of the sailors survived is nothing short of miraculous, and fortitude of the ship's captain, Riley is the key to this. There is no doubt that those who escaped were extremely fortunate and this is what keeps this book gripping. The other fascinating element of the book is the attitude of the sailors to their captors. Some captors were better than others, and the blinkered viewpoint of sailors to start with was considerably broadened by their experiences, particularly the strength and commitment to some of the locals to freeing them.
Read this book and enjoy - and be grateful you're not enslaved in the Sahara.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Possibly one of the best non-fiction adventure books written.
Sadly it was spoilt for me as I saw the documentary on the Discovery Channel some time previously.
But as survival stories go this really does take some beating.
Having read "white gold" this really did bring the horrors of ship wrecked mariners tales home.
Treated less than dogs, to be bought and sold like cattle and classed as less than sub human
You won't put it down
Sadly it was spoilt for me as I saw the documentary on the Discovery Channel some time previously.
But as survival stories go this really does take some beating.
Having read "white gold" this really did bring the horrors of ship wrecked mariners tales home.
Treated less than dogs, to be bought and sold like cattle and classed as less than sub human
You won't put it down
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book is esentially a rewrite of Captain James Rileys 1817 book entitled "An Authentic Narative of the Loss of the American brig Commerce"
The Commerce set sail from Gibralter for the Cape Verde Islands in August 1815 but because of ill winds and fog it drifted off course and was wrecked on the west African coast. All 11 crew and the 1 passenger got ashore but the passenger waskilled by nomads. The crew sailed a damaged whaler further down the coast but on going ashore were captured and enslaved then suffered several months of cruelty, starvation and neglect.
Eventuallt 5 including the captain were ransomed to the British Consul and 2 others survived later.4crew disappeared and were never heard of again.
This is a gripping story of bravery and endurance.When the book was published in 1817 the captain became an American hero.
A book to be recommended.
The Commerce set sail from Gibralter for the Cape Verde Islands in August 1815 but because of ill winds and fog it drifted off course and was wrecked on the west African coast. All 11 crew and the 1 passenger got ashore but the passenger waskilled by nomads. The crew sailed a damaged whaler further down the coast but on going ashore were captured and enslaved then suffered several months of cruelty, starvation and neglect.
Eventuallt 5 including the captain were ransomed to the British Consul and 2 others survived later.4crew disappeared and were never heard of again.
This is a gripping story of bravery and endurance.When the book was published in 1817 the captain became an American hero.
A book to be recommended.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
disapointed
Seen the reviews for this book and thought i was on to a winner but I was really disappointed. I only read 3/4 of it as I gave up. Read more
Published 13 months ago by pmc
A tale of two gritties
King follows in the desperate footsteps of Captain Riley and his marooned crew -- and in the end almost replicates as their struggle for survive and sanity. Read more
Published on 30 Jun 2004 by "genky4"
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