Horrors of Slavery: Or, the American Tars in Tripoli

First published in 1808,
Horrors of Slavery
is the tale of a sailor, captured during the United States’ first military encounter with the Islamic world, the Tripolitan War. William Ray, along with three hundred crewmates, spent nineteen months in captivity after his ship, the Philadelphia, ran aground in the harbor of Tripoli. Imprisoned, Ray witnessed - and chronicled - many of the key moments of the military engagement.