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The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder

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#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the 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 Best Book of the Year: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, TIME, Smithsonian, NPR, Vulture, Kirkus Reviews

“Riveting...Reads like a thriller, tackling a multilayered history—and imperialism—with gusto.” —Time

"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. 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.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

An Amazon Best Book of April 2023: David Grann, author of the best seller—and Amazon Best Book of the Year—Killers of the Flower Moon, unfurls a story of mayhem and murder, adventure, and reckless ambition on the high seas. Drawing on “archival debris: the washed-out logbooks, the moldering correspondence, the half-truthful journals, the surviving records from the troubling court-martial,” Grann brilliantly retells the story of the Wager—a British boat bound for South America on a secret mission during the Imperial War with Spain. The fate of the captain and crew was not to be one of conquest or fortune, but frightening storms, shipwreck, savagery, and betrayal. While you can almost feel the salt spray on your skin and the creak and crashing of wood against rock, Grann also captures the pomp and circumstance of imperialism, the brazen bravado of power-hungry men, and the inhuman brutality that fear conjures. The personalities aboard this 18th century ship are made for the history books, as the saying goes, and Grann, once again, has written an epic narrative that is both shocking and utterly absorbing. —Al Woodworth, Amazon Editor

Review

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

A Best Book of the Year:
The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, TIME, NPR, Esquire, BookPage

“The most gripping sea-yarn I’ve read in years….A tour de force of narrative nonfiction. Mr. Grann’s account show how storytelling, whether to judges or readers, can shape individual and national fortunes – as well as our collective memories.”
Wall Street Journal 

“Glorious, steely…a tightly written, relentless, blow-by-blow account that is hard to put down”The Washington Post

“As much a rousing adventure as an exploration of the power of narratives to shape our perception of reality.”  —
The New York Times

“Propulsive….finely-detailed…a ripping yarn…remarkable.” —
The Boston Globe

“David Grann's latest work of narrative nonfiction, The Wager, is part Robinson Crusoe, part Lord of the Flies... Gripping”Maureen Corrigan, NPR (Top 10 Book of 2023)

“Riveting...The Wager reads like a thriller, tackling a multilayered history—and imperialism—with gusto.” —
Time Magazine

“The beauty of The Wager unfurls like a great sail…He fixes his spyglass on the ravages of empire, of racism, of bureaucratic indifference and raw greed…one of the finest nonfiction books I’ve ever read.” — The Guardian (UK)
 
“The story of the shipwreck and its aftermath features scenery-chewing characters, unexpected twists and an almost unimaginable amount of human misery. Grann, the author of the acclaimed “Killers of the Flower Moon,” tells it with style. He manages to wring maximum drama out of the events and sketch out nuanced portraits of key players on the doomed ship."
 —
Associated Press

“His dogged search through ships’ logs and other contemporaneous accounts of the disaster and its mutinous aftermath has turned up the kind of sterling details that make his writing sing; he is also interested in the way these events were recorded and then recounted, with many different people trying to shape the memory of what happened. Grann simultaneously reconstructs history while telling a tale that is as propulsive and adventure-filled as any potboiler.”
The Atlantic

"A genre-defying literary naval-history thriller, part Master and Commander, part Lord of the Flies" — Vanity Fair

"One of our finest nonfiction storytellers returns with a swashbuckling epic about shipwreck, scandal, mutiny, and murder"
— Esquire

“A thrilling account…dramatic and engrossing.” —
The Economist

“This astonishing tale of maritime warfare, mutiny and survival in the 18th-century Atlantic proves that a nonfiction book can be as thrilling as any summer blockbuster.”
— People

"The Wager" is a soaring literary accomplishment and seductive adventure tale… enthralling, seamlessly crafted… ‘The Wager’ then, is an accomplishment as vividly realized and ingeniously constructed as Grann's previous work, on par with Jon Krakauer's
Into Thin Air and Sebastian Junger's The Perfect Storm. Welcome a classic.” 
Minneapolis Star Tribune

“Gripping … Combining impeccable research with exceptional storytelling powers, [Grann] spirits the reader aboard a creaking wooden ship trapped at the eye of a howling storm… No book that you’re likely to read either this year or next will prove more dramatic and enthralling than Grann’s magnificent story of life both at sea and out on the desolate, mist-laden island whose solitary peak the Wager’s unfortunate crew aptly named Mount Misery”— Financial Times

“A masterclass in story-telling…With a series of twists and turns worthy of a well-plotted thriller, the author of ‘Killers of the Flower Moon,’ uncovers an epic sea-faring tale…Epic true story as told by a master… David Grann has produced this riveting book…with the artistry of a superb novelist.” —
The Toronto Star

“[Grann’s] meticulously researched stories, with their spare, simmering setups that almost always deliver stunning payoffs, have made him one of the preeminent adventure and true-crime writers working today…[Grann] has mastered a streamlined, propulsive type of narrative that readers devour for its hide-and-seek reveals…David’s stuff reads like literature, but every detail, every quote, every seemingly implausible glimpse into a subject’s mind is accounted for”
New York Magazine
 
“Your favorite writer’s favorite writer for decades…David Grann is poised to become the moment’s leading storyteller... [Grann] specializes in gripping historical chronicles and crime stories…so rich in intrigue that they would strain credulity in fiction…[Grann’s] become one of our culture’s leading sources of holy s**t page-turners.” —
GQ
 
“David Grann is one of the premier nonfiction storytellers of our time…Grann’s masterful new book…is at once an adventure on the high seas, a horror story, and a courtroom drama — a little bit Rashomon meets Lord of the Flies.” —
Rolling Stone

“Not just a good but a great story, fraught with duplicity, terror and occasional heroism… the story of the Wager is, like many of its antecedents — from Homer’s “Odyssey” to “Mutiny on the Bounty” — a testament to the depths of human depravity and the heights of human endurance, and you can’t ask for better than that from a story...The Wager will keep you in its grip to its head-scratching, improbable end.”Los Angeles Times

Review:

4.6 out of 5

92.50% of customers are satisfied

5.0 out of 5 stars An Extraordinary Tale.

T.W. · September 26, 2023

(function() { P.when('cr-A', 'ready').execute(function(A) { if(typeof A.toggleExpanderAriaLabel === 'function') { A.toggleExpanderAriaLabel('review_text_read_more', 'Read more of this review', 'Read less of this review'); } }); })(); .review-text-read-more-expander:focus-visible { outline: 2px solid #2162a1; outline-offset: 2px; border-radius: 5px; } “As a tale gets passed from one person to another, it ripples out until it is as wide and mythic as the sea.”The annals of British naval history abound with great and small adventures alike. None, however, captivates like the extraordinary tale of the HMS Wager. And no one can better recount such a hair-raising series of events than David Grann. With "The Wager," Grann tops his previous works of narrative nonfiction with this harrowing story of inconceivable hardship and the machinations of desperate men. To be sure, no incident contained in this book is without ample evidence proving it occurred.It is hard to imagine a more horrifying set of survival conditions than those faced by Wager's crew, and capturing those conditions accurately based on aging historical records and biased published accounts was undoubtedly tricky. Yet, Grann does yeoman's work on this story of the ill-fated Wager, part of a British squadron ordered to sea in August 1740 against the Spanish in the apocryphal “War of Jenkins’ Ear." Commanding Wager and at the center of Grann's book is Captain David Cheap, a deeply flawed and complicated skipper.Like Grann's other books, "The Wager" nearly requires one to suspend disbelief. The author carefully and patiently reveals the story's events, shocking the reader in the process. Moreover, upon completing Grann's 257-page account of Wager's exploits and those of its sister ship, HMS Centurion, the reader better understands the ruthlessness and cunning demonstrated by the British Royal Navy as it navigated the high seas in quest of Empire. Indeed, British imperial ambitions are fully displayed in "The Wager."Based mainly on seamen’s logbooks and trial records, many of which are over 250 years old, Grann pieces together the seemingly doomed Wager’s calamities while providing ample historical context. The author, for example, details the multitudinous threats facing British ships as they pursued the Empire's aims in the mid-18th century. He also describes shipboard conditions on a British man-of-war sailing the world's oceans during this era.Wager meets its fate while searching for a Spanish galleon laden with treasure and attempting to negotiate the treacherous seas off Cape Horn at the tip of the South American continent. The crew, already decimated by storms, scurvy, and sundry other trials, finds its ship dashed on the rocks off the coast of Patagonia, Argentina. Marooned in May 1741 with little hope of rescue, the men struggle to survive on a scabrous spit of land subsequently named Wager Island.Malnourished and desperate, Wager’s surviving company suffers a complete breakdown in discipline and decorum. Having lost confidence in the ailing and unpredictable Cheap, still in command, the castaways defy British naval law and flout regulations. A fulminant Cheap, for his part, opposes the indiscipline and enforces his authority at the end of a pistol. A mutiny takes shape, and eventually, a breakaway faction, led by Gunner's Mate John Bulkeley, abandons Cheap and his loyalists, leaving them to fend for themselves on Wager Island. By this time, subsisting on the meagerest of diets harvested from terrain that barely sustains life while withstanding storm after storm, Cheap and crew somehow endure.Sailing a small transport boat reinforced with scrap lumber harvested from Wager and equipped with makeshift sails and rigging, Bulkeley and his charges successfully navigate the Strait of Magellan to Brazil. Meanwhile, Cheap and the Wager Island stragglers experience an equally implausible outcome. Sailing on an eighteen-foot yawl salvaged from the Wager, they set off to reach the Chilean coast. Surviving their respective ordeals, the two parties return to London, providing their lurid accounts of mutiny, betrayal, abandonment, and murder to an incredulous British Admiralty and fascinated public. They alternately face scorn and approbation and, eventually, court-martial.It is the Wager leadership’s trial for which Grann saves his best narration and jaw-dropping, surprise ending."The Wager" asks which of the stories is harder to believe: the death-defying travails and travels of these indomitable seamen or the unanticipated result as the British Admiralty adjudicates their fate. Yet, Grann provides the reader with all the evidence necessary to confirm these events happened irrefutably. Relying on an abundance of journals, logs, diaries, and even letters, Grann demonstrates again his seemingly unquenchable thirst for the truth to inform his audience. His single-spaced bibliography alone exceeds 13 pages.Without question, "The Wager" is an astonishing naval story reminiscent of Charles Nordhoff’s and James Norman Hall’s “Mutiny on the Bounty.” Considering the inglorious actions of the Wager's crew, Grann's book is worth reading and rereading to comprehend the motives of desperate men. Experiencing the audacity and might of the 18th century British Royal Navy, particularly exemplified by Centurion as she squares off with the Spanish man-of-war Our Lady of Covadonga off the Philippines, provides immensely satisfying adventure reading. Grann's spellbinding account of the naval gunfight puts the reader in the crow's nest as though he is viewing the fight aboard the Centurion from the very mast top!"The Wager" offers an incredible piece of storytelling suitable for any devotee of narrative nonfiction or lover of naval lore.An extraordinary tale.

4.0 out of 5 stars Mhmmmmm scurvy….

K. · January 9, 2025

Top 10 Reasons not to be a Sailor:1. The Food Will Kill You. Wormy biscuits and spoiled meat are just appetizers for scurvy.2. You’ll Never Be Dry Again. Rain, waves, and your own sweat—pick your misery.3. Your Captain Is a Sadist. Disobey orders? Say hello to the lash.4. Your “Bed” Is a Coffin. Sleep crammed in a dank, stinking hole with snoring strangers.5. Storms Will Wreck You. Literally. Hope you enjoy being shipwrecked on a freezing, barren island.6. Starvation Is a Given. Ran out of food? Time to start eyeing your crewmates.7. Mutiny Is a Work Perk. If the weather doesn’t kill you, your shipmates might.8. Nature Wants You Dead. Patagonia’s icy winds and harsh wilderness will finish the job.9. Civilization Is a Distant Dream. Home is thousands of miles away, and you’ll probably never see it again.10. The Job Benefits Are Fatal. Disease, drowning, or cannibalism—choose your ending.Lesson learned? Stay on land.David Grann’s The Wager is a story of human endurance dragged through hellfire and frostbite, a harrowing reminder that the sea is not your friend—it’s a beast that wants to eat you alive. Grann’s prose slices through the romance of 18th-century exploration and gives you the raw, salty truth: life aboard a ship like the HMS Wager was closer to damnation than adventure.Grann drops you straight into the storm, where backbreaking labor, disease, and the lash are constant companions. Then comes the wreck—a splintered ship, a barren Patagonian coast, and a crew hanging on by their fingernails. This is survival stripped to its ugliest: men turning on each other, the cold chewing through their bones, starvation hollowing them into shadows of themselves.What Grann captures so brilliantly is the madness of it all—the unrelenting, gnawing despair of being shipwrecked thousands of miles from home, surrounded by nothing but death in all its brutal forms. These men weren’t just fighting the elements; they were fighting themselves, their worst instincts bubbling up when survival meant leaving humanity behind.The Wager’s story is as relentless as the waves, a grim hymn to the fragility of civilization and the feral core that surfaces when it shatters. If you want a tale that grabs you by the throat and drags you into the cold, dark depths, Grann delivers it with terrifying precision. This isn’t history—it’s horror in disguise.

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow! What a story, what an author!

B.M. · May 23, 2025

What an amazing story! And it's taken from diaries, correspondence, ships logs, journals, and even a trip by the author to see the area where the shipwreck takes place! An important and almost unbelievable piece of history pulled together by a dedicated and almost unbelievably talented author, David Grann. His opening sentence of the Prologue is: "The only impartial witness was the sun." The opening sentence of chapter one is: "Each man in the squadron carried, along with a sea chest, his own burdensome story." And the whole book continues in this captivating manner. Grann has the gift of putting words together to tell a story based on facts in a way that brings that story to life, as do a few other authors, such as David McCullough. Grann has written a once-in-a-lifetime book that any author would be proud--and grateful--to have produced. But, he's written more! The Lost City of Z, Killers of the Flower Moon, The White Darkness, . . . I could go on! How could one person have created such a remarkable body of work?! More of David Grann's books will be on my upcoming reading list!

Der Mensch in auswegslosen Situationen.

h. · May 4, 2025

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muy bien

j.p. · March 20, 2025

muy bien

Cartivante.

V.Z. · April 28, 2025

Impressionante as dificuldades dos primeiros grandes navegadores.

大航海時代裏話。

仮. · January 7, 2025

可もなし不可も無し。

Un extraordinario recuento de el tipo de vida y sufrimientos que soportaron quienes construyeron las bases del imperio británico.

G.A. · November 30, 2024

Me ha gustado lo bien documentado del caso y como este, sin necesidad de adornos novelados, resulta apasionante.Me ha gustado también el modo en que las extraordinarias trayectorias de todos los involucrados van entreteniéndose para crear esta increíble aventura

The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder

4.4

AED10788

Type: Hardcover

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