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

4.5 (33)
$30.00

Product Details

Web ID: 16596521

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. "A tour de force of narrative nonfiction. The Wall Street Journal 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.

  • Product Features

    • Suggested age range- Adult
    • Format- Hardcover
    • Dimensions- 6.47" W x 9.53" H x 1.4" D
    • Genre- History
    • Publisher- Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, Publication date- 04-18-2023
    • Page count- 352
    • ISBN- 9780385534260
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Ratings & Reviews

4.5/5

33 star ratings & reviews

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3 months ago
from Pittsburgh, PA

Fascinating read

Tells the story of the ship, Wager, as it goes out with other ships to locate the Spanish Armada and attack it or Spanish ships and bring back the plunder from them. The Wager makes it as far as the Cape of Good Horn when it is shipwrecked and the sailors become castaways on an island there. I enjoyed this book. I learned how long it took for a ship to be readied for a journey. I also learned how the British got sailors for their ships if enough men had not signed on. It was interesting to travel with them as they leave England going out to the Atlantic and down the coast of South America. When the ship wrecks and the men become castaways, they are resourceful in creating a "town" on the island. They use whatever can be found, doing this as they are sick, starving, and weak. The captain tries to maintain naval regulations, but the gunner has become the leader of the group because of his abilities and leading style. When many of the men decide to go back to England via Argentina, the captain tries to stop them but does not have enough men to stop them. Was it mutiny? The captain also shoots a man because of his failure to follow commands. Was it murder? The group that stayed on the island decide to leave it via Chile. I won't tell you how their story ends. I learned how long it takes some of these journeys. I could not have made it. Many of the men didn't because of starvation, disease, accidents, and other causes. I learned about an incident I never knew about. I like David Grann's writing and look forward to his next book.

Recommends this product

Customer review from barnesandnoble.com

5 months ago
from Louisville, KY

Excellent Read

Well-written, engaging, and highly informative. This isn't the type of book I typically read, but found myself completely immersed.

Recommends this product

Customer review from barnesandnoble.com

7 months ago
from CA

Don't be put off by the title. Amazing true tale!

The Wager by David Grann is a compelling read. Given the book’s title, I thought it was akin to the premise in the classic Around the World in 80 Days and passed on reading for months. However, The Wager was the name of an ill-fated boat in the mid-18th century. It was part of a small armada. While I gave five stars to the Wager, it is not an easy read for two reasons: First, it is a tale of survival. Because of the real-life struggles involved, tales of survival are inherently difficult to read, especially as bedtime reading. Second, it was hard to keep track of the various names, such as who was a carpenter, who was a gunner, etc. However, the story of Captain Cheap (yes, that was his real last name) and his crew of the Wager and his superior, George Anson, and the crew of his ship is extraordinarily compelling. They say, “Truth is stranger than fiction,” but in this case, the “Truth is more unbelievable than a Hollywood ending.” Even at full hard-cover price, The Wager is worth buying for yourself or anyone who likes survival stories or naval history.

Recommends this product

Customer review from barnesandnoble.com

7 months ago
from New York

Excellent!

I read this book in a day and a half. It was a page turner. Great story, grabs you and doesn’t let go until the end. Highly recommend.

Recommends this product

Customer review from barnesandnoble.com

9 months ago

Could NOT put down!

This book reads like a high-action novel, and I could not stop reading and just being amazed! David Grann is a master storyteller, and he really wrote it in such a way that you felt that you were there, watching this take place.

Recommends this product

Customer review from barnesandnoble.com

11 months ago
from California

Amazing book

I was looking for a good book to read because I have to be confined in bed for 3 months during a foot surgery. I stumble on this book and I am telling is one the best book I ever read so far.I can't put this book down it took 10 days to read this book and now I finish. :( I just love it..I am looking for others books same kind of story to read now. So far is one of my favorite book. :)

Recommends this product

Customer review from barnesandnoble.com

12 months ago
from B&N Home Office

Can't Believe It's Nonfiction

This is the kind of narrative nonfiction that is so engrossing and filled with adventure that you forget it’s a true story. If you enjoyed reading Julian Sancton’s icy tale “Madhouse at the End of the Earth”, you’ll find this mutinous story just as enticing. Even if you’re not a nonfiction reader, this is great starting point. Just don’t get lost at sea.

Recommends this product

Customer review from barnesandnoble.com

1 year ago
from USA

A Maritime Saga of Survival !

“During the age of sail, when wind-powered vessels were the only bridge across the vast oceans, nautical language was so pervasive that it was adapted by those on terra firma. To “toe the line” derives from when the boys on a ship were forced to stand still for inspection with their toes on a deck seam. To “pipe down” was the boatswain’s whistle for everyone to be quiet at night, and “piping hot” was his call for meals. A “scuttlebutt” was a water cask around which the seamen gossiped while waiting for their rations. A ship was “three sheets to the wind” when the lines to the sails broke and the vessel pitched drunkenly out of control. To “turn a blind eye” became a popular expression after Vice-Admiral Nelson deliberately placed his telescope against his blind eye to ignore his superior’s signal flag to retreat.” When you are born in a fishing village on an island located in the Northern Adriatic Sea with a present population of approximately 400 and currently live in Long Island, N.Y., you are predisposed to pick up a book dealing with any kind of sea adventures. And if you enjoyed reading Herman Melville’s, ”Moby Dick”, Daniel Defoe’s “Robinson Crusoe,” and to some extent Ernest Hemingway’s, “The Old Man and The Sea,” then “The Wager” my first book by David Grann is a must-read. So, after six years of research, including his harrowing journey to the inhospitable island where the castaways washed up. Grann sets out to reconstruct this non-fiction account of the events that transpired circa 1741. Grann recaps the narrative using the following three different voices of the HMS Wager, a square-rigged Royal Navy ship of 28 guns: Captain David Cheap, Gunner John Bulkeley, and Midshipman John Byron. “The Wager” is a maritime saga of survival taken from actual accounts from the survivors containing dynamic descriptions of the sea voyage around Cape Horn, shipwrecks, mutiny, cannibalism, naval warfare, and the rule of law followed by the Royal British Navy at the time. You will become one of the surviving castaways from the shipwreck on Wager Island who find themselves in a desolate, wind-swept, cold, barren land with very few resources and food. The storyline takes you to a place where there is a disintegration of a floating civilization, and it almost becomes like a laboratory testing human nature under extraordinary circumstances. In the concluding chapter, the Captain and various crew members find themselves in the middle of a war over the truth about what happened after the shipwreck on Wager Island during a court martial trial that takes place once they miraculously find their way back to England. Even though these men knew the rules and regulations, and exactly what they were doing, after each violation they attempted to create a paper trail to help them escape the consequences of their actions. An interesting parallel can be established over today’s war over the truth be it political, economic, or international. I found “The Wager” to be a beautifully written compelling story deserving of a 5-star rating.

Recommends this product

Customer review from barnesandnoble.com