46 pages • 1 hour read
David GrannThe Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2023A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Part 1, Chapters 1-3Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 1: “The Wooden World”
Part 1, Chapter 1 Summary: “The First Lieutenant”
The Centurion’s first lieutenant is named David Cheap. His motive for joining the ship was to escape money problems and a fight with his brother James over a family inheritance. Their father had been a minor Scottish nobleman, the Laird of Rossie; since David was the younger son, he received nothing after their father’s death. He had been serving under the captain, George Anson, who had been promoted to the rank of commodore. Cheap hoped that, after the promotion, Anson would make him a captain.
At this time, Britain was at war with Spain. The war was in the context of the competition between European powers over wealth taken from colonial expansion. This particular conflict started in 1739, but its roots can be traced back to 1731 when a British merchant captain, Robert Jenkins, had his ear cut off by a Spanish officer. Hence the war was called the War of Jenkins’ Ear. During the war, Anson was put in charge of five warships assigned to intercept Spanish ships carrying wealth from South and Central America. However, the ships were not ready to sail and the funds to fix the ships were lacking. One of the ships was the Wager, whose captain was named Dandy Kidd. The ship was named after Sir Charles Wager, an admiral. The “ship’s name seemed fitting: weren’t they all gambling with their lives?” (18).
The plan was for each ship to carry more sailors than they were built for, with the Centurion carrying 500 sailors and the Wager a crew of 250 (19). On top of struggling to recruit enough sailors to meet these demands, the sailors Anson did recruit were inflicted with “ship’s fever”—typhus. Anson was not alone in his struggle. The British navy was also struggling to find enough sailors. So-called press gangs forcibly conscripted sailors into the British navy. A midshipman Cheap befriended, John Campbell, had been recruited by one such press gang. Cheap also took over 65 forcibly recruited sailors for the Centurion (22), finding the recruits he had to be “wretched” (23). Navy officials even resorted to sending invalid soldiers from the Royal Hospital in Chelsea to serve as sailors.
After these delays and struggles, Anson’s squadron of warships finally set sail on August 23, 1740, on a mission to intercept and pillage Spanish ships around Cape Horn, the southernmost tip of mainland South America.
Part 1, Chapter 2 Summary: “A Gentleman Volunteer”
Two more members of the crew included 16-year-old midshipman, John Byron, future grandfather of the poet Lord Byron, and the boatswain, John King. Byron came from an English noble family, but as the younger brother he would not inherit a title or his family’s fortune. Naval policy tried to encourage young men from noble families to join the navy. These noble recruits were “recognized as officers-in-training” but were still made “to toil like ordinary seamen” as midshipmen (30). There was also a social stigma against men from noble families serving in the navy.
Other members of the crew included John Duck, who was one of the free Black men the British navy enlisted; the elderly cook, Thomas Maclean; and the carpenter’s mate, James Mitchell, who “seemed to burn with murderous rage” (32). Overall, the Wager “had an unusual number of unwilling and troublesome crewmen” (32).
The Wager’s captain Kidd had a lot of power, even having the right to condemn the sailors under his command. Kidd’s lieutenant was Robert Byrnes. Along with the sailors were tradesmen, such as carpenters and armorers, and marines, soldiers trained in amphibious warfare. The mariners were under the command of their own captain, Robert Hemberton, and his lieutenant, Thomas Hamilton. Life on a ship was very difficult and uncomfortable, but it also encouraged a sense of wonder and camaraderie.
The ships landed at Madeira, an island off the northwestern coast of Africa. It was to be their last stop before making the long voyage to Brazil. Several crew members left or changed position while at Madeira. Kidd was made captain of the Pearl, George Murray was appointed the new captain of the Wager, and Cheap finally achieved his dream of becoming captain when Anson made him captain of the Trial. Byron himself now found himself under the authority of an unpopular midshipman, Alexander Campbell. Also, at Madeira, Anson learned that the Spanish government learned about their mission and sent an armada to patrol the Atlantic for them. Anson ordered that the ships leave Madeira secretly at night.
Part 1, Chapter 3 Summary: “The Gunner”
On the Atlantic Ocean, Anson ordered that the crews of the ship have a drill to prepare them for the possibility of a Spanish attack. One of the most important crewmen involved in the drill was the gunner on the Wager, John Bulkeley. Bulkeley was a devout Christian. He also came from a lower-class background. Despite not being from a noble background like some of his crewmates, Bulkeley wrote well and maintained a logbook. Logbooks were a crucial part of ship life. They provided valuable information for governments and colonial enterprises and material used in published books. These logbooks were “becoming the basis of popular adventure tales for the public” (48).
While on the Atlantic, the ships were hit by an outbreak of typhus. There was no medical knowledge at the time to help deal with the disease. Partially because of the outbreak, the crew of one of the cargo ships accompanying the squadron, the Industry, was released from service and allowed to return to England.
The ships later arrived at St. Catherine, a town on the coast of southern Brazil. From there, they left for their destination of Cape Horn. On the way, the ships were hit by a severe storm, during which one ship, the Pearl, was lost. It was found out later that the Pearl was nearly caught by the Spanish navy and that Kidd had died from a fever. Kidd’s death necessitated another change in leadership. Murray was given command of the Pearl while Cheap was made the captain of the Wager.
Part 1, Chapters 1-3 Analysis
These chapters introduce us to the major players and perspectives in The Wager.
Through David Cheap and John Byron, David Grann explores a key theme of the narrative, The Romance of the British Navy. In Britain, as the younger sons of aristocratic parents, Cheap and Byron had no inherent, legal claim to their families’ aristocratic titles or even to an inheritance at all, if their fathers chose not to leave them anything in their wills. Many younger sons of the aristocracy sought careers in the government or in colonial administration, in the army, or in the Church of England. Compared with careers in the Church or in the army, there was a stigma on nobles enlisting in the navy.
However, there was also a campaign to try to get upper-class men to join the navy. People like Byron were also drawn to the navy by stories of the adventures of famous British explorers like Sir Francis Drake (29-30). Not only were sailors like Drake known for their contributions to European exploration and the establishment of British colonies, but for their heroics in battle against the Spanish navy. Now that Britain was once again at war with Spain, Drake’s exploits held a particular resonance.
John Bulkeley’s class background is also important in Grann’s narrative. Unlike Byron and Cheap, Bulkeley came from a lower-class background. In the 18th century, Britain, along with the rest of Europe, was still a very hierarchical, class-focused society. Rising through the ranks of the army and navy and becoming a senior officer was almost unheard of for men who did not come from an upper-class family. However, the 18th century was also a time when literacy rates were growing, and public opinion was becoming an even greater force in politics. This is why, after the events of the shipwreck and the mutiny, Bulkeley’s journal became so controversial. Bulkeley’s writings were criticized for having no value because he did not receive an upper-class education.
Grann explores the tension between the British Empire and its navy and colonial ventures and the ideals of Imperialism and Colonialism. This will become clearer in later chapters that describe events during the shipwreck and on Wager Island. In these initial chapters, Grann discusses problems with the British navy that lead to the shipwreck, such as the lack of administrative organization over the fleet and the problem of not enough funding (16-20). The romantic nature of life as a sailor and the idea that men should want to flock to serve on the imperial navy contrasted with the fact that many of the sailors who served on the Wager and its fellow ships had been forcibly enlisted through the press gangs. Such clashes between romantic ideals and reality will become clearer over the course of The Wager.
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