David Grann
The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny, and Murder by David Grann is a riveting account of the 1740 British war ship, the Wager. The narrative includes background on prominent members of the crew, the Wager’s journey, the shipwreck, and its aftermath. To retell the story, David Grann combed through manuscripts, archival materials, logbooks, naval records, and journals. He even visited Wager Island to get a feel for the place where the crew was stranded.
The Wager was part of a fleet of British ships that set off for South America to plunder Spanish treasure galleons. Not long into their voyage, the ships encountered rough seas, tempests, raging storms, and giant waves. An outbreak of typhus followed by the scourge of scurvy caused so many deaths that funerals became perfunctory matters consisting of an unceremonious toss into the sea.
The Wager is separated from the rest of the fleet and shipwrecks on an island near the Patagonian coast. The island is inhospitable, offering very little in the way of food. With dwindling rations and emaciated bodies, the castaways become quarrelsome and desperate. Mayhem ensues. Grann charts the bickering that gradually deteriorates into more serious explosive arguments with the men splintering into different factions. Separate camps are set up; orders are disobeyed; there is evidence of cannibalism. Food is stolen, and when the culprits are discovered, they are flogged and abandoned on a separate island to fend for themselves.
Eventually, some of the crew mutiny. They build a makeshift sailing vessel and sail off the island, abandoning the captain and his handful of supporters. Later, the captain and the remaining survivors, including Lord Byron’s grandfather, build their own makeshift sailing vessel and head in the opposite direction. Eventually, first one group of survivors followed by the captain’s group make their way back to England.
With the arrival of the captain, accusations abound of mutiny and murder in conflicting versions of events. Looming over the survivors are threats of imprisonment, court martials, and the possibility of executions. In an attempt to sway public opinion, some of the survivors publish their version to justify their actions. The survival stories capture the imagination of the public, and soon hackers exploit public interest and flood the market with their own versions. Eventually, the survivors are summoned to a trial by court martial. The military opts to bury the events on Wager Island rather than risk exposure of the crew’s behavior as uncivilized, barbaric, and mutinous.
Grann’s skill lies in the graphic, relentless descriptions of the physical and psychological horrors the men experience on land and sea. In no uncertain terms, he depicts the horrendous impact of disease and food deprivation on the crew, and how, when stripped from the trappings of civil society, a people who view themselves as superior beings are transformed into raging barbarians. He argues Britain’s war with Spain had no ulterior motive other than pure greed and exploitation of the valuable resources of the New World and the enslavement of its indigenous population. And, finally, he reminds us the stories empires and nations choose to reveal about themselves may have little to do with truth and everything to do with shaping their activities in a favorable light to influence public opinion.