The Worst Place on Earth to Be Shipwrecked

In the summer of 1815, a thick fog enveloped Captain James Riley and his ship, as he was lost off the coast of Africa. Due to being blinded, the ship then crash-landed on the shore of some unknown land. This would begin a horrifying series of events, not because of the land he found himself on, but instead, because of who he encountered.

This is his horrifying story, and as always, viewer discretion is advised. [intro music] Captain James Riley was born on October 27th, 1777 in Middletown, Connecticut, into a large family, and from very early, he knew he was destined for life at sea. At the time, the American colonies were at war with the British for independence, and the Riley family struggled to make ends meet.

Through his 8th birthday, James went to school just like the other kids his age, but things got so bad that his father arranged for him to begin working at a neighboring farm. So suddenly, at not even 10 years old, James had to juggle the demands of going to school and working hard labor on the farm. But it wouldn't stay that way for long.

The owners of this farm soon found James' work too valuable to share him with school, so they stopped sending him there, and he was essentially left working full-time, and it remained this way until he was 15 years old. By that point, he was understandably exhausted and wanted something more for himself. And despite not getting a full education, he still learned how to read and write at the high level, and he consumed stories about the sea and what things were like in foreign countries across the world.

This naturally fascinated him, and after a while, his dreams became too big to contain. He then announced to his family that he was gonna leave the farm and begin a life at sea. His parents obviously strongly opposed this and wanted him to go into some kind of mechanical trade, but none of that mattered to James.

He was sure about his decision, and his dedication to what he wanted to do with his life eventually inspired his parents to actually support his endeavors. Soon afterward, he got a job as a cabin boy, which is the very definition of starting from the lowest ranks in seafaring. Cabin boys were often teenagers just like James, and it was a grueling position to hold.

But, at the same time, it was one that gave young men the chance to learn all of the various aspects of seafaring. Over the next 5 years, James climbed the ranks and served at different times as a cook, general crewman, second mate, and chief mate. Then, at just 20 years old, he became a ship captain for the first time, and it was a position he held admirably.

His job took him all over the world, just like he dreamed of, but life at sea is often far from a storybook tale. Between weather, rough seas, the potential of getting lost and pirates, there was always someone to keep seafarers on alert. Surprisingly though, much of James' career to that point of becoming a captain, was absent of these dangers.

The first major incident he encountered was in January of 1808, when his ship was seized by the French, and he ended up stuck in France until 1809. And while there, his cargo and the ship itself were condemned. He would make the most of his time there by traveling the country and even learning new languages, but when he was finally sent back to America, he was without a ship and flat broke as a result of the confiscation of his cargo.

Back in America, James got married and had four children, but the call of the sea was too great to ignore. Soon enough, he was working to re-earn his lost fortune and spent the next two years carrying cargo to Spain, Portugal, Brazil, and the West Indies. Unfortunately, the expense of these trips didn't really offset his earnings, and he once again found himself penniless.

To add insult to injury, as the War of 1812 got underway between the United States and Britain, there was a lot of money that could be earned at sea, but that money was in the carrying of illegal cargo that went against the laws of war. James, on the other hand, was an honorable man, and while he desperately needed the income to support his family, he refused to sacrifice his character for money. When the dust settled in the war though, James was finally hired to captain a two-masted ship called the Commerce of Hartford.

This ship was almost brand-new, weighed about 220 tons, and could carry large amounts of cargo. And obviously, with more cargo came more earning potential. And best of all, James didn't have to sell out his principles by carrying illegal goods.

He then put together a crew of ten men, and the ship set out via the Connecticut River on May 6th, 1815, heading for New Orleans. A few weeks later, the commerce reached Orange Cay, which is between Florida and the Bahamas, and James altered the course to run along the Great Bahama Bank. Navigating this area can be a beautiful experience because of the crystal clear waters and warm temperatures, but the region's islands means there is a constant danger of running aground.

To prevent this from happening, James pulled an all-nighter to guide the ship, but by around 4 am, he was satisfied they were through the worst of the threat, and announced that he was heading for a nap. After heading below deck, James lay in his bed and passed out almost immediately, but around 5 o'clock, he was jolted awake as the Commerce scraped the bottom of the ocean. He then raced topside and called all hands on deck, shouting all around as he took the helm and turned hard to one side.

Straight ahead of the Commerce were the whitecap waves, indicating shallow water or possibly even land. As the ship began its slow turn, James and the crew heard the unmistakable sound and felt the terrifying shudder of the Commerce striking the bottom three more times. But, thankfully, his quick actions allowed them to avert a complete disaster.

In fact, by 7 am, it was like they never faced any trouble at all, and James took a moment to count his blessings. Unfortunately, this first brush with land was like an omen for things to come, and in fact, it's impossible to overstate just how bad things would soon become. Either way, feeling relieved and fortunate, the Commerce successfully completed the journey to New Orleans without further incident.

They then stayed there just long enough to unload their cargo and take on a new load, and on June 24th, the ship returned to the seas, setting a course for Gibraltar, which is located near the southern tip of Spain. Almost two months later, they unloaded the flour and tobacco they hauled from New Orleans and took out a new load of brandies and wines. Additionally, they picked up a crewman named Antonio Michel, who is from New Orleans.

Antonio had just been rescued from being shipwrecked on the Spanish island of Tenerife, and James eagerly agreed to bring him back to America. Finally, on August 23rd, the Commerce left Gibraltar and headed toward the Canary Islands, where his course called for the ship to pass between the islands of Tenerife and La Palma. The pristine conditions they enjoyed to that point, however, had disappeared, and were replaced by thick fog that almost blocked out the sun.

In fact, from the wheel, James could barely see the front of the ship, let alone anything in the sea in front of him. Now, this was a route James had sailed many times before, and even in foggy conditions, he was able to at least use the shorelines of the Canaries to help guide him. With the conditions this extreme though, he had no landmarks to go off of, and it wasn't until 5 days later that he discovered they were about 120 miles (193 km) off course.

The hope to that point was that the fog would lift, but it remained relentless. Conditions actually even got worse somehow, and James decided that the best thing to do was stop the ship and wait things out. He then ordered that the anchor be dropped, and moments later, there was a huge splash as it hit the water.

The rope attached to the anchor then disappeared into the ocean with speed until its entire length of 720 feet had been let out, but the anchor didn't catch. So while the Commerce slowed due to the drag of the anchor, the ship actually kept moving. James then began to second-guess himself and their location, and made the decision to turn the ship to the northwest, fearing they were heading towards shallower water.

And bear in mind, once again, that the was so thick that they had no visibility. Then, when the crewmen were in position to make the turn, James suddenly heard the roar of waves on one side of the ship. Unfortunately, despite their best efforts, the anchor still wouldn't hold, and the strong current pulled the Commerce into the waves, and the ship eventually smashed hard onto land.

In an instant, James knew they were in big trouble, and immediately ordered the men to begin gathering supplies. Several of them then started dumping wine out of the bottles in the cargo hold and filling them with drinking water. As they did, waves batted the ship, and the rest of the crewmen worked to get a longboat prepared to take them to shore.

Despite all the chaos, the men worked efficiently, securing five to six barrels each of water and wine, three barrels of bread, and four barrels of salted meat. As the last of the provisions were placed into the longboat, James ordered the men to start tossing anything overboard that would float, like trunks, chests, and other supplies that waves would push to shore. With that completed, they piled into the longboat and pushed off, only to be immediately pummeled by the waves.

So when they finally made it onto the beach, many of them collapsed from exhaustion and began vomiting the seawater they'd inadvertently consumed. Once the men had gathered themselves and recovered a bit, they began to haul all the provisions out of the longboat and away from the crashing waves. As the crew handled that, James lost himself in thought.

He could hardly believe the predicament and the frequent misfortune they had encountered on this voyage. In fact, just prior to this incident, they actually had another brush with a rogue wave near Gibraltar as well. Never before in his career had he experienced so many close calls and hardships, and now, he had no idea where they were, which meant he had no way of telling if they were in hostile territory.

Then, just as he hoped they wouldn't run into any other humans, an older man with a dark complexion appeared on the shore. Scattered along the beach were trunks and chests— some of which had been blasted open by the pounding waves, leaving the crew's clothing strewn across the sand. The man, who was dressed in a cloth, then started gathering up the shirts and pants belonging to the crew.

Upon seeing this, James knew he had to proceed with caution, so he slowly started to walk in the direction of the man. As he drew closer, he noticed the man stood about 5'8 with bushy, unkempt hair, a matching beard, and reddened eyes, and he looked to be of Arab descent. As he walked, James did everything he could to signal to the man that he was approaching in peace and friendship, but the man was hesitant.

A moment later, the man was joined by two women James took to be his wives, with several children in tow. The man then turned his attention away from James and returned to gathering the crew's belongings, and his family joined in. As they took each item, they carefully laid it out to dry on the beach.

Also believing that there had to be more of them nearby, James decided not to protest and let them have the clothing. When he returned to the crewman, his top priority was checking the ship to see if it could be repaired. The longboat also sustained damage that would need to be addressed, but in order to do that, they'd need supplies in the commerce, which was still afloat in the water.

He then sent several of the crewmen to swim to the ship to secure any supplies that could be used to repair the longboat, and they eventually returned with long nails that James began using to fix cracks and holes that had formed. As some of the crew evaluated the Commerce and others helped James fix the longboat, the people returned and stole the sail the crew had used to build a tent. James then picked several of his crewmen to guard the provisions while he hurried to fix the longboat, knowing that they had to get away from the people they encountered as quickly as they could.

By this point as well, the people had shown they were in possession of hatchets and knives, but James knew they couldn't give in and let them take their provisions either, or it would mean certain death for the twelve stranded men. As hostile as they seemed, however, one of the children approached the Commerce crew's campsite with a burning stick and gave them fire, which the crewman used to cook a large meal that night. Shortly before the sun went down, the people appeared to signal that they were retiring for the night.

Despite this, the crewmen would sleep in shifts anyway because what supplies they had left, they needed to guard closely. As things quieted down, James couldn't help but feel guilty about their situation. He had never experienced a shipwreck before, and he felt responsible for putting the others in this horrible situation.

But even with these thoughts weighing heavily on his mind, exhaustion eventually took over, and he drifted off to sleep. The next morning, the men awoke to find the old man back on the beach. This time, he had a long iron spear, and he began threatening as if he was going to throw it at the Commerce crew.

Even worse, James then looked towards some nearby cliffs and saw a caravan of camels heading down to the beach, and he instantly knew what was happening. The people were going to capture them and take them away. He then turned and ran toward the beach where the longboat was and grabbed a long pole before hurrying back to the men.

The old man then charged the campsite, and James stepped forward with the pole, preparing to fight them off while he shouted to the others to get the longboat and take it back to the Commerce. Almost as if in a sword fight, James and the man clashed while the crew worked to get the boat in the water, but in its state of disrepair, the water filled it almost immediately. The crew then flipped it over and boarded the upturned hull, and upon seeing this, James bolted toward the water to join them.

It was a precarious raft, but all 12 of them were able to fit on the hull and return to the wreck. When they arrived there, they watched helplessly as the people completely ransacked their camp and ran off with their provisions. This left James with three choices: They could either remain on the Commerce and wait for the waves to completely destroy the ship.

They could return to land and fight the people in their outnumbered state, or they could board the broken longboat and take their chances out at sea. James saw the third as their only real option, but they had lost their oars, and the longboat was hardly seaworthy. Essentially, they were still relatively choiceless in the matter.

As the crewmen struggled to launch the disabled boat, the people gathered on the shoreline and began beckoning the crew back to the beach, doing their best to communicate that they were going to be peaceful. And they specifically seemed to call to James as if they understood he was the leader of the crew. Seeing this opportunity to turn the people into allies as a possible fourth and best option, James told the others to remain on the wreck while he went ashore.

As he did, the old man they first encountered began to wade into the water toward the wreck, making it clear that he wanted to board the Commerce. Fighting against this would have almost certainly ended any chance of making peace with the people, so James let the man pass as he waited towards shore. As soon as he reached land, James was met by two of the younger men who helped him out of the water by grabbing each of his arms.

Then, when he made it to the sandy beach, the women and children pulled out daggers, knives, and spears, and held the blades against James' body. It was all a trick. Unfortunately as well, none of the crewmen noticed this as they helped the old man aboard.

James tried to shout to them not to let the old man go until James was allowed to go free, but the pounding waves were too loud. And soon, it became clear that the people were just using intimidation to further rob the Commerce crew. And sure enough, the old man returned to the water and headed toward the beach with a bucket containing much of the money that was on board.

At this point, it seemed to James that his fate was sealed. There was no incentive for the people to let him go free or keep him alive, so in a desperate attempt to save his own life, James made the people understand that there was more money on the ship he'd give them if they let him go. The people seemed to understand this, and James beckoned for one of the men to approach the shore.

And moments later, Antonio appeared in the water and headed toward James. When he arrived on the beach, however, he had nothing with him, and it was apparent that James' message to his crewmen wasn't interpreted properly. So, after the people checked Antonio over and discovered that he was empty-handed, they began poking him with their blades as he begged for his life.

In a desperate attempt to turn their attention away from Antonio, James indicated that the money they were after was buried on the beach nearby. As the people then turned away to dig in the sand, James got to his feet and instantly began sprinting to the water. And despite them chasing him, he managed to jump into the water and slip under the waves.

In the chaotic scene on shore, Antonio hadn't gotten the message to run once the people were distracted. And upon seeing that James had escaped, one of the people thrust a spear through Antonio's chest, killing him almost instantly. As all of this was going on, some of the Commerce crewmen frantically worked to fix the longboat so they could escape the area.

And they would manage to patch the holes in the hull enough to keep it afloat, and the 11 remaining men quickly boarded it. Then, using their hands and a desperate will to live, they paddled the boat past the breaking waves and back into the current of the open ocean. For the next 9 days, with no food and little water, all 11 men survived long enough to drift 200 miles (322 km) southward.

Finally, feeling that they might be out of danger from the hostile people they encountered, the longboat was taken to shore, where the exhausted and weakened men immediately began to search for water. While the crewmen did that, James climbed up one of the cliffs to see if he could get a view of what might lie inland. When he reached the top and looked into the distance though, all he saw was a vast desert all the way to the horizon.

Fortunately the men found fresh water, and they drank as much as they could because James' plan was to head into that desert. By now, you might be wondering, where exactly the Commerce wrecked and what desert James is going to lead the men into. In all the fog, the ship had gone well off-course and ended up running aground in Morocco in Northern Africa.

After traveling in the longboat to the south, James and the crew found themselves right at the edge of the incredibly expansive and hostile Sahara Desert. At 3. 6 million square miles, the Sahara is as large as the entire contiguous United States.

It's unclear if James knew this or not, but if he did, it didn't seem to matter as he guided the crew into it. His hope was that they'd stumble on a friendly group of people who would assist them in their rescue, but for days, all they found was more sand and unbearable daytime temperatures, reaching 120 degrees Fahrenheit or 49 degrees Celsius. These conditions quickly beat the remaining fight out of the men, and James changed his mind.

Instead of trying to find a friendly tribe, he'd settle for finding a hostile one and offering themselves as slaves. During one of these desperate days, the crewman spotted a large group on the horizon heading toward them, and this group was clearly not interested in helping them. And so, using gestures and hand signals to communicate, James negotiated for himself and the crew to be purchased.

The people then began arguing amongst themselves as to which was going to be the owner, and in the end, they split the Commerce crewmen up between them, and the different groups went their separate ways. James and the crew had encountered the Sahrawi people who were a group of desert nomads and who would end up treating the men poorly to the extreme. For the next several months, the crew was beaten, exposed to the blazing sun, starved, and forced to drink urine— both their own and that of the camels.

Eventually, one by one, the crewmen began to die from the harsh conditions or were killed by the harsher treatment. Over this time, James managed to pick up some of their language, and as the days passed, he established communication with the people. Then, many months into their captivity, the people encountered another group and seeing this as a chance to save himself and his men, James approached the man who appeared to be leading this group, who was a nomad named Sidi Hamet.

Using what language he had learned, James told Sidi about their situation and requested that Sidi buy them and take them to the nearest city. James also told him that he had a long time friend in the city who would happily pay Sidi for rescuing them. The two then negotiated for a bit, and Sidi agreed to do it if James could promise him money and a gun when they reached the city, and he made it clear to him that if he were lying, James would pay with his life.

This was a frightening prospect. He didn't even know where in the world he was, so it was impossible for him to have a friend in the closest city which was still hundreds of miles away. However, it was still his only shot at getting his men away from their captors and giving them a shot at survival.

So with the deal struck, Sidi then paid the crew's previous owners, and the group set off for the city of Mogador, which is called Essaouira today. Unfortunately, the crew's experience with Sidi wasn't much better— not because they were mistreated, but because there just wasn't enough food and water to go around. Not only that, but the desert was full of hostile hunter tribes that the group needed to keep an eye out for.

These dangers, however, were the furthest thing in James' mind. If they even managed to survive long enough to make it to the city, they could easily be killed if they couldn't convince a complete and total stranger to pay for their freedom. So, for much of the rest of the journey, he thought of a plan.

Now, when he convinced Sidi to pay to take them from the Sahrawi, James was taken aback by the pity he was able to instill in him despite the language barrier. So, one night during their travels, James sat down with some paper and a pencil, and began to write out the Commerce crew's story. Every word of it needed to appeal to the compassionate side of the reader, and he even struggled to keep himself calm as he wrote, knowing that his life and the lives of his men depended on this letter.

When he was finally satisfied with what he wrote, he folded the paper up and tucked it into his jacket. Some time later, and somehow despite all the hardships and suffering, the remaining crew and their nomadic owners made it to the outskirts of the city where they stopped to camp. Sidi was then gonna head into town on his own to seek out James' friend, and before he left, James handed Sidi the letter and asked him to seek out the British consul.

With that, Sidi turned and made his way into the city with the note, and James watched him disappear over the horizon, knowing that if he returned by himself, it would be the end of all of them. In Mogador, Sidi asked for the consul, and as luck would have it, he bumped into the assistant of a British merchant who was about as close to the consul as the city had. The assistant then took Sidi to the merchant who was a man named William Willshire, and Sidi handed him the note that James poured his heart into.

Back at their camp on the edge of the city, James couldn't keep his eyes off the horizon. All he needed and wanted was to spot at least two figures coming toward him, and it would mean they were saved. As you might imagine, the minutes passed like days as he maintained watch.

Finally, he noticed something moving through the heat waves coming off the desert sand. It was Sidi, and he wasn't alone. When the two men made it to the camp, Sidi and William dismounted their camels, and James stepped forward in tears as William approached him and put his arms around the frail captain.

The letter he wrote moved William so much that he agreed to pay for the freedom of the captive men. The long and arduous ordeal for James and the crewmen with him was finally over. When the voyage began, James stood 6'1 and weighed 240 pounds.

At the time of his rescue, he weighed just 90. In the days that followed, James sent the crewmen that were with him back to America, while Sidi and his group returned to the desert to retrieve the rest of the Commerce men. Horrifyingly, just two of the missing crewmen were found and returned to America, because, according to the word James received, Sidi and his brother were killed by marauders as they searched.

When James finally went back to America, he did so with a brand-new outlook on slavery. The American Civil War was still 40 years in the future, and slavery was still commonplace across the country, so James viewed his experience in the Sahara as a calling for a new life as an abolitionist. He then wrote a book about his ordeal as a slave that was published in 1817, entitled "Sufferings in Africa".

The book would end up becoming a hit, and changed the way many people in the country viewed slavery. In fact, one man in particular noted it as one of his favorite three books of his lifetime and said it inspired his own work as an abolitionist. That man was Abraham Lincoln.

As for James, he did eventually return to the sea where he died in 1840 from a disease that was believed to have been contracted during or exacerbated by his time in captivity. If you made it this far, thanks so much for watching. If you have a story suggestion, feel free to submit it to the form found of the description, and hopefully, I will see you in the next one.