James Riley (captain)

James Riley (October 27, 1777 – March 13, 1840) was the captain of the United States merchant ship Commerce.[1]

James Riley
Born(1777-10-27)October 27, 1777
Middletown, Connecticut
DiedMarch 13, 1840(1840-03-13) (aged 62)
At sea
OccupationShip captain, writer
Spouse(s)
Phebe Miller
​
(m. 1802)​
Children5

Early life

James Riley was born in Middletown, Connecticut on October 27, 1777.[2] At age 15, he began serving as a cabin boy on a trading vessel in the West Indies. By age 20 he had become a ship captain.[3]

He married Phebe Miller in January 1802, and they had five children.[3]

Sufferings in Africa
Main article: Sufferings in Africa (book)

Riley led his crew through the Sahara Desert, after they were shipwrecked off the coast of contemporary Western Sahara in August 1815, and wrote a memoir about their ordeal. This true story describes how they came to be shipwrecked and their travails in the Sahara. The book, published in 1817 and originally titled Authentic Narrative of the Loss of the American Brig 'Commerce' by the 'Late Master and Supercargo' James Riley, is modernly republished as Sufferings in Africa.[4]

Lost in this unknown world, Captain Riley felt responsible for his crew and their safety. He told of the events leading to their capture by marauding Sahrawi natives who kept them as slaves. Horribly mistreated, they were beaten, sun-burnt, starved, and forced to drink their own and camel urine. A slave would be worked until close to death and then either traded or killed.

Aftermath

Once back on American shore, Riley devoted himself to anti-slavery work but eventually returned to a life at sea. He died March 13, 1840, on his vessel the Brig William Tell between New York and St. Thomas, "of disease caused by unparalleled suffering more than twenty years previous during his shipwreck and captivity on the desert of Sahara."[3][5] The lives of his crew were foreshortened, no doubt, from complications caused by their hardships in the African desert. The last surviving crewman was the cabin boy, who lived to be 82.

In 1851, eleven years after Riley's death at sea, the publishing firm of G. Brewster issued the book Sequel to Riley's Narrative: Being a Sketch of Interesting Incidents in the Life, Voyages and Travels of Capt. James Riley, from the Period of His Return to His Native Land, After His Shipwreck, Captivity and Sufferings Among the Arabs of the Desert, as Related in His Narrative, Until His Death.[6]

Influence

Riley founded the midwestern village of Willshire, Ohio, which he named for William Willshire, the man who redeemed him from slavery.[7]

Abraham Lincoln, who later became president of the United States, listed Sufferings in Africa, as one of the three most influential works that shaped his political ideology, particularly his views on slavery. The others were the Bible and The Pilgrim's Progress (1678).[8]

See also

Footnotes
  1. King, Dean (2004). Skeletons on the Zahara. Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 978-0-316-83514-5.
  2. "James Riley". Online Biographies.
  3. Scranton, S. S., ed. (1907). History of Mercer County, Ohio, and Representative Citizens. 1. Celina, Ohio: Biographical Publishing Company. pp. 313–314. Retrieved August 11, 2020 – via Google Books.
  4. Riley, James (1817). Sufferings in Africa. ISBN 978-1-59048-108-0.
  5. Josiah Riley (June 3, 1853). "Obituary of Capt. Riley". Alton Weekly Courier. Alton Weekly Courier. Newspapers.com.
  6. Riley, James & Riley, William Willshire (1851). Sequel to Riley's Narrative: Being a Sketch of Interesting Incidents in the Life, Voyages and Travels of Capt. James Riley, from the Period of His Return to His Native Land, After His Shipwreck, Captivity and Sufferings Among the Arabs of the Desert, as Related in His Narrative, Until His Death. G. Brewster.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
  7. King, Dean (2004). Skeletons on the Zahara. Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 978-0-316-83514-5.
  8. Oren, Michael. "To the Shores of Tripoli". Wall Street Journal.

References

Further reading
  • Maislish, David (2005). White Slave: Based on the Journal of James Riley; Wrecked with His Crew Off the Coast of Africa, Enslaved and Seeking Redemption in the Desert (Illustrated ed.). Pen Press. ISBN 9781904754985.
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