Skip to content
Cart0
 

Trying to Survive on the Desolate African Coast in 1801

Shipwrecked - without even clothing - a small band of soldiers try to keep alive on the arid shores of the Red Sea.


Survivors of a shipwreck on the African coast stripped naked by Francois Auguste Biard (WikiCommon)

"BREAKERS AHEAD!" CRIED A DISTRAUGHT SAILOR FROM HIGH ON THE FOREMAST.  The sighting of waves breaking on rocks struck fear into the hearts of the crew.  Shocked from his dozing, the Captain's mate barked back: "What is that you say? You lie you scoundrel!"  Then the sailor at the helm cried out that he had lost control of the ship. The vessel was trapped in the unforgiving "great whirl" currents off the horn of Africa and were being thrown towards the northern coast of Somalia.  

 

 

C

----------------

SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY

------- A Description of the Maritime Parts of France. (London, 1774).
------- "Letters from Captain Benbow" London Gazette. Whitehall November 26, 1693.
------- "Bombs and Infernal Machines" Scientific American no. 965. (New York, 1894)
------- The Present State of Europe. Volume 5. (London, 1694).
Joseph Allen, Battles of the British Navy (London, 1852)
Arthur Le Moyne de La Borderie, Le bombardement et la machine infernale des Anglais contre Saint-Malo en 1693. (Nantes, 1885)
Surirey de Saint Remi, Memoires d'Artillerie Premier Tome. (Paris, 1697).
 René Duguay-Trouin, Mémoires de Duguay-Trouin : 1689-1715, (Paris,
 

 

 Author Robert Henderson enjoys unearthing and telling stories of military valour, heritage, and sacrifice from across the globe. Lest we forget.