Captain James Riley – Stranded and Enslaved

Time stranded: Under 2 months

Distance traveled: 600 miles

Terrain types: Sea, Desert

Deaths: 1 confirmed, fate of others unknown

Situation ended: freed from slavery

Location: Sahara desert

The 18th and 19th centuries saw any country with a sea-faring ship trading goods with the rest of the world, and every year tens of thousands of vessels took to the oceans to travel to far and exotic lands to bring back their goods and make the ship’s owners rich.

James Riley was the captain of the “Commerce”, one of the trading vessels for the United States merchant navy, and in August of 1815, he was sent on a trading mission that took him around the coast of Africa. During the crossing of the Atlantic, the Commerce ran into several bad storms and was in quite a state when it reached the coast of Africa.

They landed on the coast of the Sahara desert to make some repairs, but while there an Arab tribesman appeared holding a spear and helped himself to some of their supplies. He soon left and came back with another two men who were also armed. Riley knew what was coming and moved towards the Arabs to talk while his men made it safely back to the boat.

He arranged to pay for his life and another crew member came back ashore with the money, however as soon as he was close Riley made a run for the launch boat and safely made it back to the ship, abandoning the crew member who was quickly killed by the Arabs.

Riley and his men then started to head south along the coast in their badly damaged ship looking for somewhere safe to make repairs. They sailed for about 200 miles before stopping at a beach surrounded by tall cliffs. There weren’t any materials to make the necessary repairs and the crew had no choice but to walk inland in the hope of finding a friendly tribe.

After walking for a few days in up to 50 °C heat during the day, and freezing temperatures at night, Riley and his men finally accepted they were going to die. After running out of both food and water they decided to offer themselves as slaves to the first tribe they found in a desperate attempt to get water.

Soon enough a large tribe came over the horizon and saw the men, who at first caused arguments amongst the Arabs as they were fighting over who got the most slaves. Riley and his men were split up and taken away in small groups, but Riley was taken by a man named Sidi Hamet and his brother.

Riley soon convinced them to take him and his men to the city of Mogador, modern-day Essaouira, where he was hoping there would be someone from the American or British consul who would pay their slave ransom. He told the slavers that his friend was in the city and would definitely pay the fee, but in truth, there was no friend and Riley was simply trying his luck, just hoping the right person would be there who would be kind enough to pay out hundreds of dollars for a group of strangers.

The walk to the city was several hundred miles through the desert, and Riley and his men were subjected to beatings and starvation, with some of the men losing up to half their body weight. Things got so bad at points that when the water started to run low, the men were forced to drink camel urine.

After making it to the outskirts of the city, Riley was told to write a letter to his friend. He addressed the letter to “The French, English, Spanish or American Consuls” and basically wrote a short passage begging someone to buy him and his men.

Fortunately, a man named William Willshire was in the city, and one of his many job titles was British consul. He agreed to buy the men and paid the ransom, riding out to meet Riley and his crew as they walked to the city. After greeting Willshire with tears and hugs, Riley sent his men back home to America while he stayed behind in Mogador for a few days.

He spoke with his former master who promised to return to the desert and find the rest of his men, of which two turned up back in America. Riley also later heard about two Arabs who were stoned to death in the desert while searching for slaves, and he was convinced this was Hamet and his brother who were keeping their promise to him.