Commerce was a Connecticut-based American merchant sailing ship that ran aground on 28 August 1815[1] at Cape Bojador, off the coast of Morocco.
[2] Commerce, sailing from Gibraltar to Cape Verde Islands, was under the command of American Captain James Riley and crewed by 11 others.
After being attacked and ransacked on shore by Sahrawi natives, who killed one of the seamen in cold blood, the crew returned to their rowboat and attempted to reach the Cape Verde Islands or hoped to meet another passing ship.
Morocco had been the first country to recognize the United States and attempted to maintain generally friendly relations despite the behavior of corsairs and raiders within their borders.
The original Authentic Narrative of the Loss of the American Brig Commerce by the "Late Master and Supercargo James Riley is quoted by Abraham Lincoln as one of the six most influential books he read in his youth and was republished as Sufferings in Africa.