Book Review: The Wager

by Bonnie Tollefson

The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck Mutiny, and Murder, David Grann, Random House, 2023.

This book was recommended to me at the lunch table one day.

The Wager is an English ship which sails in 1740 from England with an armada of other ships in search of a prize to be taken from the Spanish. The story begins as the reader is introduced to 3 characters who will play pivotal roles. The lieutenant, who becomes captain of the Wager; the 16 year old gentleman volunteer, who becomes a midshipman; and the gunner, who leads a group to safety.

While rounding the Horn the armada gets separated and the Wager is cast upon some rocks. Was it incompetence? The crew that survived struggle ashore on a rocky mountainous island. While raiding the shipwreck for supplies and arms, the castaways struggle to find food and shelter. As hunger grows, so does the dissatisfaction. One group wants to return through Drakes Passage and up the Brazilian coast to safety. Another group wants to continue up the coast of Chile to confront the Spanish as their orders urge. When the two groups disagree, is it mutiny?

The Wager takes its place beside other books of shipwrecks and castaways, such as Endurance about Shackleton; Skeletons on the Zahara – off the west coast of Africa; and The Terror – the Northwest Passage. It is fully annotated with extensive notes, a bibliography and an index.

David Grann is also the author of Killers of the Flower Moon. The Wager is non-fiction that reads like fiction. A rousing adventure even if the person who recommended it doesn’t remember doing so.

This book is available from the RVM library in regular and large print.