Book Review: The Wager – A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny, and Murder by David Grann

~ Book Club Mom

The Wager
A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny, and Murder
by David Grann

Rating: 5 out of 5.

I’ve always loved a good sea-faring tale. And I already knew David Grann was an excellent writer (read my review of Killers of the Flower Moon here), so I dove into The Wager, knowing little about the ship or the story behind it, just that it was a tale of shipwreck and more.

The Wager was one of eight British ships that sailed from Portsmouth, England in 1740, on a secret mission to capture a “treasure-filled Spanish galleon” near Cape Horn, South America. At the time, Britain and Spain were the dominant forces of imperialism around the world, eager to acquire and control far-off lands. The War of Jenkins’ Ear (you can imagine the details) erupted between Britain and Spain when the Spanish coast guard, searching for contraband, attacked a British ship.

Despite typhus, scurvy, and other hardships, the ships (minus one cargo ship that departed the group) made the 8000-mile trip to Cape Horn, and that’s when the trouble began. I was fascinated by the description of the treacherous waters between the southernmost tip of South America and Antarctica, where the Atlantic meets the Pacific. The ships spent weeks trying to navigate through Drake Passage and around Cape Horn, with all kinds of trouble. Imagine sailing through this with only wind power and limited navigational tools!

Why is the book titled The Wager? Well, in the middle of Drake Passage, Captain David Cheap lost sight of the rest of the ships. As Grann writes, “The Wager was alone at sea, left to its own destiny.” They made it around Cape Horn, but were shipwrecked off the coast of Patagonia, on an unforgiving, unpopulated island, with very few resources.

Now, the men on the ship were a rough crew, including criminals and vagrants. Some, of course, were officers or in training. But many of the 250 original men were not actually sailors, forcefully conscripted off the streets to fill the boat. To prepare for battle, a group from the British army joined the crew, but they knew nothing about ships!

Ninety-one men survived the shipwreck, including seventeen-year-old John Byron, future grandfather of the poet Lord Byron, and a super-interesting man named John Bulkeley, the gunner. Bulkeley was strong, smart, and a natural leader, but also a little chippy. And he didn’t like Cheap, who wasn’t much of a leader. Factions split and tensions rose, leading to a murder. This part is also fascinating.

Grann got this information from the multitude of journals the officers and others kept.

Some from The Wager made it back to England, and slowly, stragglers from the other ships returned. Survivors published books. Bulkeley’s was a favorite. But eventually, charges of wrongdoing, abandoning the naval mission, mutiny, and murder led to a court-martial.

You’ll have to read it to find out what happened. I thought it was incredible that these survivors traveled across the world on wooden ships, close to three hundred years ago. What a story.

I highly recommend The Wager, for readers who like stories about tension between in highly-stressed situations.

Thanks for visiting—come back soon!

Discover more from Book Club Mom

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

28 thoughts on “Book Review: The Wager – A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny, and Murder by David Grann”

  2. I read this one last month, after a recommendation by blogger/writer Diana Peach. I gave it five stars too. Very well written and interesting. But I can’t help thinking how foolish they were, and how many lives were lost necessarily. I kept thinking, women would never sign up for this. 😄

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Great observations, Jennifer. I’ll have to stop by Diana’s blog and read her review. And they knew so little about scurvy – only to be saved (some of them) by the wild celery they found on the island. I guess trial by error, right? And no, women would not sign up for that 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      1. I loved that they found the celery. Yes, the scurvy was one part where I felt so sorry for them. Some terrific novels came out of Newfoundland about seafaring and shipwrecks. I loved them. But when they are going after other countries’ ships to plunder, I don’t feel pity for what befalls them.

        Liked by 1 person

  5. Thanks for introducing me to this book via your review! I love reading true stories of ships and shipwrecks. Right now I am reading “Killers of the Flower Moon” and I can see he does his research. I will put “The Wager” on my list. Have a good weekend.

    Liked by 1 person

  8. The trip around the horn is treacherous, even with all the modern navigation tools and good ships which is why we have the Panama Canal. This sounds like a book I would be very interested in reading. Thank you very much for bringing it to my attention. Cheers.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Hi Lynette – I’ve become obsessed with watching YouTube videos of boats going around Cape Horn. It’s become a bit of an ultimate challenge for sailors. Not for me though – I’d pick the Panama Canal and definitely not the Straits of Magellan! Thank you for reading and commenting 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  9. ARGGG love sailing ship stories. In high school when my friends were reading books on romance I read “Mutiny on the Bounty” and James Mitchner’s “Caribbean”. I lived in Miami for many years where sailing was a big part of my life. Love your recommendation. Will check it out.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Hi Grace – as a fellow sailor, I connect with your interest in boating stories. Have you read Nathaniel Philbrick’s In the Heart of the Sea or Erik Larson’s Dead Wake? Both excellent although from very different time periods. Thank you for stopping by to read and comment 🙂

      Like

    1. Thanks, Tim! I wasn’t sure about this review because it was rushed, but I wanted to get it out while it was fresh in my mind. I appreciate your support and yes, it was a captivating story. I love that setting. Hope you’re having a good weekend 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

Comments are closed.