The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder

The ship’s carpenter Cummins devised a plan to recover and repair a longboat that had sunk with the ship. Bulkeley recruited the survivors exiled to the islet to help with the mission. Meanwhile, Cheap planned to try to reunite with the rest of the squad and carry out an assault on a town on the island of Chiloé off the coast of Chile. Inspired by Naval Officer John Narborough’s chronicle of exploring Patagonia, Bulkeley believed the survivors could take the Strait of Magellan that avoided the Drake Passage, and that this would be the safest route back to Britain.

Still, the strait was known for its williwaws, glacial blasts that could damage ships. Many of the survivors rallied around Bulkeley and his plan since Bulkeley “seemed far more composed and suited to command the men in their nightmarish circumstances” (152). Bulkeley and his supporters confronted Cheap with a petition signed by a majority of the survivors, demanding that they sail for Britain through the Strait of Magellan. Later, Bulkeley and Cheap had a tense discussion that ended with Bulkeley angrily walking out of the meeting.

After Cheap failed to respond to the petition, Bulkeley began to openly discuss a mutiny against Cheap. His argument was that, since they were castaways, there was “no written code, no preexisting text, that could fully guide them” (158). Mutinying was a huge risk. Even if the mutiny succeeded, they could later be charged with a crime back in Britain. Because of this, Bulkeley made sure to provide “a written record justifying each of the group’s actions” (159). Others were of the opinion that the shooting of Cozens had shown that Cheap was unfit for command and could be arrested and brought to trial in Britain.

Bulkeley won over the second in command, Lieutenant Baynes, on the condition that Cheap would be given a chance to sign an agreement to sail for the Strait of Magellan. Carrying guns, Bulkeley and the survivors who supported him confronted Cheap. However, Cheap refused to sign the agreement and pressured Baynes into switching sides, at least temporarily.

Even then, Cheap was “almost completely isolated, a captain without a company” (161). Meanwhile, the crisis on Wager Island had gotten to the point that some of the survivors began to cannibalize the corpses of their fellow sailors. Despite suffering from starvation, Bulkeley and his supporters armed themselves and arrested Cheap for the murder of Cozens. Cheap was imprisoned while Bulkeley assumed command over the survivors. It was decided that Bulkeley and his supporters would depart on three ships, led by the Speedwell. They would leave Cheap and his supporters behind on the island with a few supplies.

Byron struggled with the decision of whether or not to go with Bulkeley or stay on Wager Island. For Byron, “abandoning the mission to return home was a decision that might subvert his naval career, but it would save his life” (173). Complicating the decision was the fact that leaving would require abandoning his captain.

Byron decided to leave. However, as soon as they left, the boat sailed into a storm that broke the longboats’ foresail. Barely reaching a mile, they had to stop at a lagoon at another island. Byron volunteered to return to Wager Island on a barge to retrieve materials to build a new sail. He and the men accompanying him decide to stay at Wager Island and abandon the defectors.

Finding that most of the edible food supplies went with the defectors, Byron decided to go to the lagoon with the needed supplies and ask for a share of the food. Byron and the men accompanying him took the precaution of hiding the barge before approaching Bulkeley. However, the defectors refused unless they returned the barge and threatened to pursue Byron with their weapons. Byron “wondered how people could be so cruel” (175).

Despite demands to the contrary, Bulkeley did not try to forcibly take the barge. Instead, he and his party set out north for the Strait of Magellan. The ships were packed with human beings and destined for “some of the roughest seas on earth” (178). A storm forced Bulkeley and his crew to brave more rocks to reach shore. During another storm, one of the ships and all of its crew were lost. Bulkeley later found the ship and its crew alive, but they were separated again, this time for good. Eleven people left the crew, deciding to take their chances on some nearby land rather than continue on the voyage.

Using landmarks he had seen described, Bulkeley found the Strait of Magellan. Through another storm that came close to sinking the remaining ships, he and his crew took refuge in a cove that Bulkeley named the “Port of God’s Mercy” (183). Despite finding a refuge, the crew was dying and becoming rebellious. This was especially true once it became clear the strait was “a mystifying maze of channels and lagoons” (184). They even spent two weeks retracting their route, believing they had sailed into the wrong area, only to discover they had found the Strait of Magellan after all.

Back at Wager Island, Cheap and the others were working on repairing the barge. The sailors were especially eager to leave because Byron and others believed the ghost of one of the men James Mitchell had murdered was haunting the island. Once the barge was ready, Cheap and the others set sail. However, the weather and the intensity of the waves forced them to abandon most of their supplies, including casks of food. Byron witnessed one of their boats getting lost in a storm. With less boats, there was only room for 14 crew members. Four marines were left behind on the nearest land because they had no sailing experience.

Cheap’s crew struggled to get past a cape where the waters were especially rough. Eventually, the crew gave up any hope of seeing Cheap’s plan through, believing they were cursed by the spirit of the unburied seaman. In the end, Cheap agreed that they should return to Wager Island. There, they buried the seaman and decided to remain on the island.

Meanwhile, Bulkeley and his crew continued to sail on the Strait of Magellan. They passed the ruins of the failed Spanish colony Port Famine. Eventually, they reached the Atlantic Ocean and decided to sail for the nearest friendly territory, the Brazilian port city of Rio Grande. However, to get there, they had to sail past a hostile Spanish territory despite having no food. They stopped at an uninhabited island where they were able to successfully hunt seals. After eating so much food, they suffered from “refeeding syndrome” (194) where a starved person becomes sick after ingesting a large and sudden intake of food. Several of the sailors died.

While stopping on the mainland to hunt and retrieve fresh water, a squall came again, driving the ship from the shore and stranding eight men, including Cummins and King. Bulkeley and his crew stayed out at sea, a decision they made sure to carefully document. On the open water, starvation began claiming the lives of Bulkeley’s crew, including the elderly cook, Thomas Maclean.

Finally, the ship was blown ashore at Rio Grande: “The governor of the town came to meet them, and after learning of their harrowing experiences, he crossed himself and called their arrival a miracle” (197). The 29 survivors were immediately given medical treatment and food and even became local celebrities.