''Sufferings in Africa'' is an 1817

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based in the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobi ...

by James Riley. The memoir relates how Riley and his crew were captured in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

after being shipwrecked in 1815. Riley was the Captain of the American merchant ship . He led his crew through the

Sahara Desert , photo = Sahara real color.jpg , photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972 , map = , map_image = , location = , country = , country1 = , ...

after they were shipwrecked off the coast of

Western Sahara Western Sahara ( '; ; ) is a disputed territory on the northwest coast and in the Maghreb region of North and West Africa. About 20% of the territory is controlled by the self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), while the r ...

in August 1815. The book was published in 1817 and was originally titled ''Authentic Narrative of the Loss of the American Brig Commerce'' by the "Late Master and Supercargo" James Riley, modernly republished as ''Sufferings in Africa'', and comes down to us today as a startling switch on the usual master-slave relationship. This true story describes how they came to be

shipwreck A shipwreck is the wreckage of a ship that is located either beached on land or sunken to the bottom of a body of water. Shipwrecking may be intentional or unintentional. Angela Croome reported in January 1999 that there were approximately ...

ed, and their travails in the Sahara Desert. Lost in this unknown world, Captain Riley felt responsible for his crew and their safety. He told of the events leading to their capture by marauding Sahrawi natives who kept them as slaves. Horribly mistreated, they were beaten, sun-burnt, starved, and forced to drink their own and

camel urine Camel urine is a liquid by-product of metabolism in a camel's anatomy. Urine from Arabian camels has been used in the Arabian Peninsula as prophetic medicine for centuries, being a part of ancient Bedouin practices. After the spread of MERS-CoV ...

. A slave would be worked until close to death, and then either traded or killed.

Plot summary

Upon landing in the ship's leaky boat, Riley and his crew began to make repairs to return to the ship, rather than face a desert rescue. The repairs were incomplete when a native armed with a spear arrived and helped himself to their meager supplies. After filling up his arms with what he could carry off, he left and returned with two others also carrying spears. Riley stayed back to distract the Arabs and give his men a chance to escape in the loaded and unfinished boat. They made it, but without Riley, who offered his captors money in exchange for his life. With their agreement, crew member Antonio Michele swam to shore to pay them, at which point Riley ran out into the water to join his men. After Riley was safe in the boat, all he could do was watch while an Arab stabbed Michele in the stomach and dragged his body away, which caused Riley tremendous feelings of guilt. As the ship, still aground, was unusable, unable to reach what are now the islands of

Cape Verde , national_anthem = () , official_languages = Portuguese , national_languages = Cape Verdean Creole , capital = Praia , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , demonym ...

, the crew decided to sail to the South while hoping for rescue, which did not come. After nine days, out of food and water, they returned to the shore at an isolated beach further south, with the realization that they would probably be killed just as quickly as Michele. They reached the shore, which was surrounded by high cliffs. Riley told his men to begin digging for water. He climbed to the top of the cliffs and found himself staring at the edge of a vast expanse of flat desert. His crew joined him, and together they started to walk inland hoping for rescue by a friendly tribe. But soon they were without hope, enduring heat during the day and freezing temperatures at night. Out of food and water, Riley resolved that they should either accept death or offer themselves as

slaves Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

to the first tribe they encountered, which is exactly what happened. A large gathering of men and camels appeared on the horizon, and the crew approached them. The tribe started to fight among themselves, to determine who would become the slave-owners. Riley's crew became separated when they were taken as slaves by different groups, which then went their own ways. Riley recounts in his

s the terrifying days spent in servitude. After a while, he learned some of the language and was able to communicate in a rudimentary way. One day during his captivity some Arabs arrived seeking a trade with his master. Riley asked two of them, Sidi Hamet and his brother, if they would buy him and his fellow shipmates and bring them to the closest city - which was Mogador (now

Essaouira Essaouira ( ; ar, الصويرة, aṣ-Ṣawīra; shi, ⵜⴰⵚⵚⵓⵔⵜ, Taṣṣort, formerly ''Amegdul''), known until the 1960s as Mogador, is a port city in the western Moroccan region of Marakesh-Safi, on the Atlantic coast. It ha ...

) - hundreds of miles away to the north. Hamet was moved by Riley's desire to save his friends and agreed to buy them if Riley would pay him with cash and a gun when they arrived at the city. Riley promised that he had a friend there who would pay him upon their safe arrival, which was totally untrue, for Riley knew nobody. Hamet promised to slit his throat if he were lying. When the time came for Riley to write the note, he was terrified. How could he write a note to a perfect stranger, begging him for several hundred dollars? He had no choice. In the note he explained who he was and described his situation. Traveling through the desert caused all to suffer - master and slave alike. There was little food for the already starving American men, and little water for everyone. Amazingly, they traveled the distance to the city - several hundred miles, constantly in fear of marauding hunter tribes. They were especially in fear of a father-in-law of one of the brothers, who was out to settle a dispute. Eventually they arrived at the outskirts, and Hamet took the note, which was addressed to the town's consul, into town. Hamet met a young man in the city, who, it turns out, worked as an assistant to a British merchant who also acted as a kind of consul and agent. Hamet told this man about his "friend" and gave him the note. This consul,

William Willshire William Willshire also known as William Wiltshire (c. 1790 – 4 August 1851), was British Vice Consul to Mogadore (Essaouira), Morocco from 1814 until 1844, before being assigned to the Consularship of Adrianople (Edirne) in 1845, until his ...

, impressed by the sincerity of the note, agreed to pay. Willshire rode out in a group to meet the men as they waited outside the city, and Willshire greeted Riley with hugs and tears. Riley sent his remaining men home to America but stayed behind for just a few days. Seti Hamet, his former master, promised to return to the desert to look for Riley's missing crew members. Riley went back to America and was reunited with his wife and their five children in

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

. Two of the missing men were later returned to the States, and Riley heard of two Arabs who were

stoned to death Stoning, or lapidation, is a method of capital punishment where a group throws stones at a person until the subject dies from blunt trauma. It has been attested as a form of punishment for grave misdeeds since ancient times. The Torah and Ta ...

out in the desert by marauders. He was convinced they were his former master, trying to keep his word, together with his brother.

Reception

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

, who later became president of the United States, listed ''Sufferings in Africa'', as one of the three most influential works that shaped his political ideology, particularly his views on slavery. The others were the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

and ''

The Pilgrim's Progress ''The Pilgrim's Progress from This World, to That Which Is to Come'' is a 1678 Christian allegory written by John Bunyan. It is regarded as one of the most significant works of theological fiction in English literature and a progenitor of ...

'' (1678).

Sequel

In 1851, eleven years after James Riley's death at sea, G. Brewster published the ''Sequel to Riley's Narrative: Being a Sketch of Interesting Incidents in the Life, Voyages and Travels of Capt. James Riley, from the Period of His Return to His Native Land, After His Shipwreck, Captivity and Sufferings Among the Arabs of the Desert, as Related in His Narrative, Until His Death''.

Footnotes

References

External links

* Link to Internet Archive copy of 1817 edition of the book. * Article placing ''Sufferings in Africa'' in a wider context of other Christian

slave narrative The slave narrative is a type of literary genre involving the (written) autobiographical accounts of enslaved Africans, particularly in the Americas. Over six thousand such narratives are estimated to exist; about 150 narratives were published as s ...

s, including comprehensive links to public domain online copies of works. {{Authority control 1817 non-fiction books Maritime history of the United States African slave trade Memoirs of imprisonment Books about the Sahara 19th century in Western Sahara Slavery in Africa