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A Journal, Comprising an Account of the Loss of the Brig. Commerce, of Hartford, (Con.) James Riley, Master, Upon the Western Coast of Africa, August 23th, 1815
Excerpt from A Journal, Comprising an Account of the Loss of the Brig. Commerce, of Hartford, (Con.) James Riley, Master, Upon the Western Coast of Africa, August 23th, 1815: Also of the Slavery and Sufferings of the Author and the Rest of the Crew, Upon the Desert of Zahara, in the Years 1815, 1816, 1817; With Accounts of the Manners, Customs, and Habits of the Wandering Arabs
Panam me to ofi'er this little volume to you. I have, upon the 00mm, endured the distress occasion ed by the elements - upon land, the miseries inflicted by man, and from You irate jernoye'd: the. Blessings of humane benevolence, which 'i can 'repay only by un alterable gratitude. 1 5 3.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
Panam me to ofi'er this little volume to you. I have, upon the 00mm, endured the distress occasion ed by the elements - upon land, the miseries inflicted by man, and from You irate jernoye'd: the. Blessings of humane benevolence, which 'i can 'repay only by un alterable gratitude. 1 5 3.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
280 pages, Paperback
First published June 4, 2009
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
April 29, 2021
A raucous adventure along the Barbary Coast.
I freely admit my bias with respect to this book as, in full disclosure, my company, Pamlico & Albemarle Publishing, published this version of the book. Full credit for choosing to do so is owed to my wife, Publisher and Editor-In-Chief Pen Carroll, who heard me telling the tale behind the book and searched to find a copy for me to read. While there were a few very expensive early editions and Google printed a "public domain" copy, they were all of very poor quality. So Pen decided she'd use her phenomenal editing and graphic skills, having already published seven original works, to expand our imprint with an editing and publishing of this 200 year old work. Having just completed a detailed reading of the book, I applaud her amazing ability to let original spelling stand while still cleaning up the passages, having had to work from multiple copies in order to construct one complete and unabridged version of the tale.
The story is an autobiographical account of author Archibald Robbins' nearly 20 months of captivity in Western Morocco following the shipwreck of Hartford, Connecticut merchant ship Commerce August 28, 1815, on the Moroccan coast at Cape Bajador. This was just two months after the signing of a peace treaty between the United States and the Barbary States, a war which had been waged by the nascent United States Navy under orders from President Thomas Jefferson to end the practice of nations paying tribute to avoid being attacked and held hostage by Barbary Pirates.
For centuries, Barbary Pirates had ruled the waters along the North African coast as part of the Ottoman Navy whose intention was to capture European and American sailors whom they would ransom. For sailors of wealthy or prominent families, these imprisonments may last only days and weeks as their kin were able to meet ransom demands promptly. For the typical sailor, however, this could mean years of imprisonment in squalor and slavery for those who opted not to convert to Islam. Interestingly some of the most heralded Barbary Pirates had began life as a Christian Europeans of common birth and lowly duties aboard merchant and naval ships only to arise to prominence first as Corsairs and eventually as Admirals of the Ottoman Navy.
While the process of taking hostages at sea had formally ended, the Arab and Berber tribes who traversed the Saharan and North African coasts still took part in the lucrative trade, particularly of castaways, maroons, and shipwreck survivors of European and American ships. Knowledge of the likelihood of being taken hostage and potentially rendered into slavery as a Christian infidel encouraged the survivors of the Commerce shipwreck to take to sea in their lifeboat for a few days until supplies of freshwater were expended and they had to face whatever fate dealt when they eventually were compelled to make landfall.
That inevitably was a dividing up of the crew amongst various Bedouin families of the Saharawi tribes which survived through endless wandering from water well to water well scattered all throughout the dunes and mountains of the Sahara. The expectation to earn one's keep performing the functions of gathering combustibles and tending camels was what passes for slavery to the author and his contemporaries though, because food and water were precious commodities, their share from the family lauder was often meager. That they were Christians who chose not to convert, they were barred from sharing family tents as was Islamic tradition, having to wrap up in canvas against the frigid desert nights.
But conditions improved pretty quickly as the poorer coastal tribes brokered deals with more wealthy, powerful and better resourced Arab merchants to trade survivors for camels and staples that the brokers would transform into hard currency from families or nations who would purchase the return of these westerners.
While wrecks along the North African coast was fairly common, written accounts were sparse which makes the fact that no less than two books were penned by survivors. The first was published by Captain Riley of the Commerce who was better connected than most of his crew and was ransomed in only a few months. As for our author, though from a long line of Connecticut mariners, they were not quite as resourced and luminary. Thus, Archibald Robbins passed through a few more brokers until eventually getting the attention of William Willshire, a British Vice Counsel based in the Moroccan coastal city of Mogadore (modern day Essaouira) who arranged from the American Ambassador at Tangiers the money needed to return home.
Upon arriving home, Robbins submitted his journal to a Connecticut publishing company in 1818. When published, it and the version penned by Captain Riley were some of the first accounts Americans had ever read of North African and Arab culture, turning both into blockbuster best sellers reaching nearly 1 million printings. Riley's account was heralded by Abraham Lincoln of one of the six most important books he had ever read that shaped his global outlook.
Contemporary retellings of this story have been penned and have been optioned by Hollywood but have yet to make it to the screen. My belief is that it has much to do with both perspective and timing as I don't think there was an audience for an Arab adventure in the years following September 11th.
That might be changing and, as I now own the rights to this work, I think I know the story to tell.
Stay tuned.
I freely admit my bias with respect to this book as, in full disclosure, my company, Pamlico & Albemarle Publishing, published this version of the book. Full credit for choosing to do so is owed to my wife, Publisher and Editor-In-Chief Pen Carroll, who heard me telling the tale behind the book and searched to find a copy for me to read. While there were a few very expensive early editions and Google printed a "public domain" copy, they were all of very poor quality. So Pen decided she'd use her phenomenal editing and graphic skills, having already published seven original works, to expand our imprint with an editing and publishing of this 200 year old work. Having just completed a detailed reading of the book, I applaud her amazing ability to let original spelling stand while still cleaning up the passages, having had to work from multiple copies in order to construct one complete and unabridged version of the tale.
The story is an autobiographical account of author Archibald Robbins' nearly 20 months of captivity in Western Morocco following the shipwreck of Hartford, Connecticut merchant ship Commerce August 28, 1815, on the Moroccan coast at Cape Bajador. This was just two months after the signing of a peace treaty between the United States and the Barbary States, a war which had been waged by the nascent United States Navy under orders from President Thomas Jefferson to end the practice of nations paying tribute to avoid being attacked and held hostage by Barbary Pirates.
For centuries, Barbary Pirates had ruled the waters along the North African coast as part of the Ottoman Navy whose intention was to capture European and American sailors whom they would ransom. For sailors of wealthy or prominent families, these imprisonments may last only days and weeks as their kin were able to meet ransom demands promptly. For the typical sailor, however, this could mean years of imprisonment in squalor and slavery for those who opted not to convert to Islam. Interestingly some of the most heralded Barbary Pirates had began life as a Christian Europeans of common birth and lowly duties aboard merchant and naval ships only to arise to prominence first as Corsairs and eventually as Admirals of the Ottoman Navy.
While the process of taking hostages at sea had formally ended, the Arab and Berber tribes who traversed the Saharan and North African coasts still took part in the lucrative trade, particularly of castaways, maroons, and shipwreck survivors of European and American ships. Knowledge of the likelihood of being taken hostage and potentially rendered into slavery as a Christian infidel encouraged the survivors of the Commerce shipwreck to take to sea in their lifeboat for a few days until supplies of freshwater were expended and they had to face whatever fate dealt when they eventually were compelled to make landfall.
That inevitably was a dividing up of the crew amongst various Bedouin families of the Saharawi tribes which survived through endless wandering from water well to water well scattered all throughout the dunes and mountains of the Sahara. The expectation to earn one's keep performing the functions of gathering combustibles and tending camels was what passes for slavery to the author and his contemporaries though, because food and water were precious commodities, their share from the family lauder was often meager. That they were Christians who chose not to convert, they were barred from sharing family tents as was Islamic tradition, having to wrap up in canvas against the frigid desert nights.
But conditions improved pretty quickly as the poorer coastal tribes brokered deals with more wealthy, powerful and better resourced Arab merchants to trade survivors for camels and staples that the brokers would transform into hard currency from families or nations who would purchase the return of these westerners.
While wrecks along the North African coast was fairly common, written accounts were sparse which makes the fact that no less than two books were penned by survivors. The first was published by Captain Riley of the Commerce who was better connected than most of his crew and was ransomed in only a few months. As for our author, though from a long line of Connecticut mariners, they were not quite as resourced and luminary. Thus, Archibald Robbins passed through a few more brokers until eventually getting the attention of William Willshire, a British Vice Counsel based in the Moroccan coastal city of Mogadore (modern day Essaouira) who arranged from the American Ambassador at Tangiers the money needed to return home.
Upon arriving home, Robbins submitted his journal to a Connecticut publishing company in 1818. When published, it and the version penned by Captain Riley were some of the first accounts Americans had ever read of North African and Arab culture, turning both into blockbuster best sellers reaching nearly 1 million printings. Riley's account was heralded by Abraham Lincoln of one of the six most important books he had ever read that shaped his global outlook.
Contemporary retellings of this story have been penned and have been optioned by Hollywood but have yet to make it to the screen. My belief is that it has much to do with both perspective and timing as I don't think there was an audience for an Arab adventure in the years following September 11th.
That might be changing and, as I now own the rights to this work, I think I know the story to tell.
Stay tuned.
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