In August 1815, a ship called The Commerce runs aground off the coast of Northwest Africa. Onboard are eleven crew members who are merchant traders who have no choice but to row to shore. They will soon find themselves at the edge of the Sahara, one of the most inhospitable places on earth where oasis settlements are controlled by tribes who also run the trans-Saharan slave trade. With no way to escape and dwindling supplies, they will need to cross the largest hot desert in the world. If captured by desert tribes, they face enslavement or death, but without help from locals, they will die of hunger and thirst.
This is the true story of the men who survived the journey based on the journals they wrote. It’s about sacrifice and human endurance and the fight to get home. But their odyssey will have a much greater impact than on just their own lives – it will influence a future president and impact a nation in ways that are still felt even today.
We recommend Skeletons on the Zahara: A True Story of Survival by Dean King for more reading.
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