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

 

Summary (from the publisher): From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Killers of the Flower Moon, a page-turning story of shipwreck, survival, and savagery, culminating in a court martial that reveals a shocking truth. The powerful narrative reveals the deeper meaning of the events on the Wager, showing that it was not only the captain and crew who ended up on trial, but the very idea of empire.

On January 28, 1742, a ramshackle vessel of patched-together wood and cloth washed up on the coast of Brazil. Inside were thirty emaciated men, barely alive, and they had an extraordinary tale to tell. They were survivors of His Majesty's Ship the Wager, a British vessel that had left England in 1740 on a secret mission during an imperial war with Spain. While the Wager had been chasing a Spanish treasure-filled galleon known as "the prize of all the oceans," it had wrecked on a desolate island off the coast of Patagonia. The men, after being marooned for months and facing starvation, built the flimsy craft and sailed for more than a hundred days, traversing nearly 3,000 miles of storm-wracked seas. They were greeted as heroes.

But then . . . six months later, another, even more decrepit craft landed on the coast of Chile. This boat contained just three castaways, and they told a very different story. The thirty sailors who landed in Brazil were not heroes - they were mutineers. The first group responded with countercharges of their own, of a tyrannical and murderous senior officer and his henchmen. It became clear that while stranded on the island the crew had fallen into anarchy, with warring factions fighting for dominion over the barren wilderness. As accusations of treachery and murder flew, the Admiralty convened a court martial to determine who was telling the truth. The stakes were life-and-death--for whomever the court found guilty could hang.

The Wager is a grand tale of human behavior at the extremes told by one of our greatest nonfiction writers. Grann's recreation of the hidden world on a British warship rivals the work of Patrick O'Brian, his portrayal of the castaways' desperate straits stands up to the classics of survival writing such as The Endurance, and his account of the court martial has the savvy of a Scott Turow thriller. As always with Grann's work, the incredible twists of the narrative hold the reader spellbound.

Review: In 1740, the British ship The Wager left port with 250 men on board. The ship was plagued by overcrowded, disease, poor construction, and scurvy. Eventually, the ship ended up wrecked on an island off of Patagonia. The already ill men eventually cobbled together enough from the wreckage to construct a semblance of a ship. But many died during this process, and the men mutinied and left their captain and a few other men loyal to him behind. In 1742, 30 survivors arrived in Brazil. But it wasn't until 6 months later, when another 3 survivors washed ashore, that the full details of the mutiny and fighting that broke out on while they were shipwrecked came to life. 

This was a wild story! Even before the shipwreck, the detailed account of the horrific living conditions on board the ship was gruesome to read about. The ship was overcrowded, poorly constructed, riddled with vermin, and sailing dangerous seas. Even before they set sail, things sounded so grim! Men were being pressed or sold into service on board the ship against their will. 

This was well researched (without being far too long) and there were so many poignant details shared that really rammed home the dire nature of the men's plight. I was so sad when Byron's dog that he adopts while on the island is forcibly taken from him by the starving men, killed, and roasted. The description of him finding bits of its carcass were hard to read. Imagining these men, starving to death, in horrific physical condition and wearing near rags, braving the ocean on a cobbled together ship was terrifying. The journey was so arduous that some men demanded to be set ashore, knowing this option was likely death. It's hard to imagine a ship so poorly made, conditions so bad, that you'd rather face near certain death but at least have it those final days be on dry land. This was extreme survival and no good choices for anyone. So many men died but it truly is remarkable that any survived. 

This book had a huge cast of characters. I listened to the audio version of this book, which was well done. But it was difficult at times to keep track of who was who. I do wish I had been able to still access the maps and photos from the physical copy of the book. Additionally, the pacing of this felt a bit off at times. 

Stars: 4