Zahara. The word sounded familiar. It was contained in a title of a book donated to the library which I saw several months ago:
Skeletons on the Zahara. It made me wonder if this was a retelling of a book in the library's vault, the story of which is summarized in its title:
An Authentic Narrative Of The Loss Of The American Brig
Commerce, Wrecked On The Western Coast Of Africa, In The Month Of August, 1815.
With An Account Of The Sufferings Of Her Surviving Officers And Crew, Who Were Enslaved
By The Wandering Arabs On The Great African Desart, or Zahahra; And
Observations Historical, Geographical, &c. Made During The Travels Of The
Author, While A Slave To The Arabs, And In The Empire Of Morocco. By James Riley
I placed the newer book in the vault next to the older book.
At one point I took a few photographs and finally came to compare the two books.
As I had guessed, the newer is an updated presentation of Captain James Riley's account of the 1815 wreck of the brig
Commerce, and the remaining crews' subsequent sufferings as slaves of the Arabs.
The updated version
was put together by Dean King who stumbled across Riley's book in the library of
the New York Yacht Club in Manhattan. King was intrigued and re-traveled by camel and land rover Riley’s 800 mile trek.
