10. James Riley: The Shipwrecked Sea Captain who trekked through the Sahara desert after being enslaved by Berber tribesmen.
In August 1815, James Riley was the Captain of the American brig “Commerce” which was making its way from Gibraltar to the Capre Verde Islands. The ship was just off the West African coast when it became lost in the fog and ran aground on the Moroccan coast. Riley and his crew began repairs, but when locals stole their supplies, they found themselves trapped between the sea and the Sahara desert without food and water. The group decided to walk inland in the hope of encountering tribesmen who could help them. They did indeed meet a group of Berber tribesmen. However, instead of helping the American castaways, the Berbers enslaved them.
The Berbers divided the men between them and went their separate ways. Riley and his portion of the crew had no choice but to follow their new masters into the Sahara desert. They became sunburnt, and their masters mistreated them. The Berbers beat and starved them and forced them to drink their own and camel urine. One day, a group of Arabs arrived at the camp. Riley, who had by now picked up some of the rudiments of the language somehow managed to speak to two of them, a man named Sidi Hamet and his brother.
Riley asked the brothers to buy him and his men, assuring them that if they took them to the Moroccan Port of Mogador (now Essaouira), they could be ransomed. Sidi Hamet agreed. So, Riley and his men, with their new masters began the journey out of the Sahara and back to the coast. Water was scarce, and they were in constant fear of attack from rival tribes. However, at last, they reached Mogador.
Riley wrote a note explaining their predicament to the town’s consul, a British merchant named William Willshire. Willshire agreed to pay the ransom and even rode out himself to liberate the men. The grateful Riley and his men then returned to America. Once home, Riley, mindful of his experiences as a slave devoted himself to anti-slavery work before returning to a life at sea.