Skeleton On The Zahara Summary

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1. Skeletons on the Zahara is a nonfiction book written by Dean King. It is based on Captain Riley’s memoir. The book talks about the true survival of Captain James Riley and his crew on their journey to Africa. After the war of 1812 and 1815 in America, Captain James Riley and his crew of twelve left and sailed down the Connecticut river, Riley’s family did no longer have a home, so this voyage would help them restore their fortune. After they sailed out of the Connecticut river, they went down to new Orleans and picked up a cargo of flower and Tobacco, then sailed across the Atlantic down to Gibraltar were they traded the flower and tobacco for wine and Spanish coins, they then sailed down the coast of Africa and were going to go to the Cape …show more content…

They were then attacked by stage men, they killed one man and got most of their goods, this was very sad for them as this was the only supply they needed to survive on. They then took the longboat and decided that they would rather die at sea then die with those men. They were on the longboat for nine days and survived on figues and wine. They were suffering as the tropical sun burned their skin and the salt water was deterring their skin. They decided to go back to the coast. As they climbed the rocky mountain, they came upon other nomades, the nomades were fighting against each other to decided who was going to possess these sailors. The sailors were stripped of their clothes as they were very valuable. Riley eventually went to SituHamet (a nomade) and tried to convince him to buy all of his men and to transport them 800 miles across the Zahara to Essaouira to sell them. As they go, Riley and SituHamet develop a friendship and a mutual respect, Riley then realised that SituHamet can navigate by seing the stars and smelling the sand, and that he can find water; and SituHamet realises that Riley can motivate all of the crew even though they are dehydrated and

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