In 1815, the merchant ship, Commerce in Connecticut, with a crew of twelve men, set sail for the Cape Verde Islands after a brief stopover in Gibraltar. Weather and unfamiliar surroundings caused the ship to wreck on the inhospitable coast of Mauretania. Taken as slaves by regional nomads and separated (some never to be seen again), the twelve sailors endured great hardships. The book is based on an account of Captain Riley's ordeal: nine weeks of captivity, traveling inland nearly 800 miles, and finally to Morocco where he was ransomed by an American consul.
