Skeletons on the Zahara - Dean King

A masterpiece of historical adventure, Skeletons
on the Zahara chronicles the true story of twelve American
sailors who were shipwrecked off the coast of Africa in 1815, captured
by desert nomads, sold into slavery, and subjected to a hellish
two-month journey through the perilous heart of the
Sahara.
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 its barren and ever-changing
coastline has baffled sailors for centuries. In 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, starvation, dehydration, death and despair.
Captured, robbed and enslaved, the sailors were
dragged and driven through the desert by their new owners, who neither
spoke their language nor cared for their plight. Reduced to drinking
urine, flayed by the sun, crippled by walking miles across burning
stones and sand and losing over half of their body weights, the sailors
struggled to hold onto both their humanity and their sanity. To reach
safety, they would have to overcome not only the desert but also the
greed and anger of those who would keep them in
captivity.
From the cold waters of the Atlantic to
the searing Saharan sands, from the heart of the desert to the heart of
man, Skeletons on the Zahara is a spectacular
odyssey through the extremes and a gripping account of courage,
brotherhood, and survival.