The western Sahara is a baking hot and desolate place, home only to nomads and their camels, and to locusts, snails and thorny scrub. On 28 August 1815 the US brig Commerce was dashed against Mauritania's Cape Bojador and lost, although through bravery and quick thinking the ship's captain, James Riley, managed to lead all of his crew to safety. What followed was an extraordinary and desperate battle for survival in the face of human hostility, hunger, dehydration and despair, as the crew were captured, robbed and enslaved. They were reduced to drinking urine (their own and the camels'), flayed by the sun, crippled by walking miles across burning stones and sand. Over time James Riley and Sidi Hamet, slave and captor, came to recognise in each other men worthy of respect... Soon the ransom not only of Riley himself but also of a handful of his crew suddenly seemed possible. But Sidi Hamet had enemies of his own, and to reach safety the sailors had to overcome not only the desert but also the greed and anger of those who would keep them in captivity. Skeletons on the Zahara is a thrilling true story of shipwreck, adventure, and the limits of man.

Skeletons on the Zahara

Dean King

Travel

Arrow Books

The western Sahara is a baking hot and desolate place, home only to nomads and their camels, and to locusts, snails and thorny scrub - and it has a barren and ever-changing coastline has baffled sailors for centuries. On 28 August 1815 the US brig Commerce was dashed against Cape Bojador and lost, although through bravery and quick thinking the ship's captain, James Riley, managed to lead all of his crew to safety. What followed was an extraordinary and desperate battle for survival in the face of human hostility, hunger, dehydration and despair, as the crew were captured, robbed and enslaved. Sometimes together, more often apart, the sailors were dragged or driven through the desert by their new owners, who neither spoke their language nor cared for their plight. Reduced to drinking urine (their own and the camels'), flayed by the sun, crippled by walking miles across burning stones and sand and losing over half of their body weights, some of them nevertheless held on to their sanity. And over time James Riley and Sidi Hamet, slave and captor, came to recognize in each other men worthy of respect and the ransom not only of Riley himself but also of a handful of his crew suddenly seemed possible. But Sidi Hamet had enemies of his own, and to reach safety the sailors and their saviour had to overcome not only the desert but also the greed and anger of those who would keep them in captivity.

Heinemann

On a calm May morning in 1815, Captain James Riley and the crew of the Commerce left port in Connecticut for an ordinary trading voyage, never imagining what awaited them. Shipwrecked off the African coast, captured by desert nomads and sold into slavery, they were dragged along on an insane journey through the heart of the Sahara in an unforgettable tale of survival, courage, and brotherhood.

Skeletons on the Zahara: A True Story of Survival

History

Africa

Thorndike Press

A companion reference for fans of the popular historical fiction series includes more than two thousand cross-referenced terms, diagrams, maps, and accompanying short essays. Original. 25,000 first printing.

A Sea of Words: A Lexicon and Companion for Patrick O'Brian's Seafaring Tales

Literature & Fiction

British & Irish

Henry_Holt

More than 50,000 devoted Patrick O'Brian fans have made this their reference book of choice. No other book provides the thorough research and scholarship that made it such a runaway success--and it's just gotten better. Dean King has added hundreds of new definitions and new illustrations and background essays, many from the two new O'Brian novels published since A Sea of Words was first released. 15 illustrations, diagrams and maps. Online promo.

A Sea of Words : A Lexicon and Companion for Patrick O'Brian's Seafaring Tales

Reference

Owl Books (NY)

There is no higher expression of the Royal Navy's spirit than Admiral Lord Nelson's exhortation to the fleet before the Battle of Trafalgar: "England expects that every man will do his duty." Every Man Will Do His Duty presents the voices of the officers and seamen during the wars of the Age of Nelson (1793-1815), when the Royal Navy gained a naval supremacy that would last more than a century. The remarkable eyewitness accounts in this meticulously researched work offer insights into life aboard a man-of-war. There are battles, fire-ship and cutting-out missions, shipwrecks, press gangs, and deadly encounters with cannibals, told in the words of the men who lived through them.

Every Man Will Do His Duty : An Anthology of First-Hand Accounts from the Age of Nelson 1793-1815

Engineering & Transportation

Engineering

Brasseys Publications

11 CDs,Synopsis At the end of the War of 1812, Captain James Riley and his ship the Commerce went aground on the coast of Africa, and he and his shipmates were captured as slaves. After two months, they managed to find a way out, but during that brief time they were subjected to almost unbearable abuse as they desperately tried to stay alive. Based on accounts written after the event, Dean King's narrative provides a harrowing but entirely accurate narrative of the event.

Transportation

BOOKS ON TAPE]

Every Man Will Do His Duty

John B. Hattendorf

Independent Publishers Group (Chicago Review Press)

The Feud: The Hatfields & McCoys The True Story

Little,Brown

Patrick OBrian

Ullstein Taschenbuchvlg

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Books by Dean King