Skeletons on the Zahara by Dean King Book Report by Ben Sandeman
Captain James Riley and his crew of 12 men left port in early May 1815. His ship the "Commerce" pulled out of port which is now Cromwell, Connecticut. He and his crew were really excited for this adventure since many of the crew hadn't sailed in years since the British naval blockade in the war of 1812 which prevented many of the crew from sailing. The ship was full of goods such as trousers, shirts and leather hats to trade in New Orleans, then they would voyage across the Atlantic to Gibraltar and then hopefully the Canary Islands. Everything was going perfectly, until a storm hit and they were swept off course and crashed into the west coast of Africa near Cape
Bojador. They faced serious problems as soon as they went ashore including getting attacked by a native tribe. The crew fled and were captured by slave traders near
Cape Barbas. The crew got separated and were forced to travel around the Saharan desert with slave traders. The crew experienced the worst weather in the northern
Atlantic with frigid temperatures and the unbearable heat of the Sahara. The crew struggled with being beaten, starved and dehydrated which caused many conflicts.
Captain Riley befriended one of the slave traders, which caused the crew to have a chance to make their daring escape.
4 conflicts in the book that relate to Outdoor Education
Dehydration: Captain Riley and his crew were walking in the desert and were severely dehydrated, it goes into detail describing what the men go through from passing out to seeing mirages. This is easily comparable to outdoor ed camping trips because everyone needs to stay hydrated or things like bad headaches and heatstroke may occur which diminishes camp life.
Starvation: On everyone's journey through the desert, food was very scarce with hardly any vegetation growing at all besides in the few oases they visited. In the book, the author goes into gruesome detail of how being malnutrition affects the body. On camping trips this can be related very easily since everyone should bring the appropriate amount of food for meals to make sure everyone is being fed well. When there isn’t enough food the group may argue causing a more negative atmosphere.
Severe Sunburn: During their time in the Sahara, many of the crew got very severe sunburns which were explained in a very gruesome manner. This is an important summer and sometime winter
