-Samuel Johnson
In 1740 during a war with Spain, the HMS Wager with several other ships, left Portsmouth on a mission to capture a treasure laden Spanish galleon. The subtitle of the book provides more than a hint to the outcome.
While attempting to sail around Cape Horn, an area known for dangerous weather, Wager is badly damaged and runs aground near Patagonia. The crew, greatly diminished by scurvy and starvation, lapses into anarchy. Captain David Cheap is seen as a tyrant, blamed for the wreckage and accused of murder, which brings on a mutiny led by the gunner, Bulkely and others.
After 5 years a small percentage of those sent out have returned to England in a few different groups. The survivors of one group are casting blame on the others and a court martial is held in 1746.
I didn't particularly enjoy The Wager but I found it interesting enough to rate it a 3. I read Killers of the Flower Moon by this author a couple of years ago and gave it a 4; a more relatable story to me but one that made me angry and sad.
I learned a few things about sailing in the 18th century that I didn't know like why British sailors are referred to as "limeys," how the ship was known as a "wooden world," where the expression "under the weather" originated and the meaning of "walk up Ladder Lane and down Hemp Street" (to face hanging as punishment).
There were many quotes for me to choose from, the one I began with and this from Herman Melville: "Impracticable Cape! You may approach it from this direction or that---in any way you please---from the east or from the west; with the wind astern, or abeam, or on the quarter; and still Cape Horn is Cape Horn....Heaven help the sailors, their wives and their little ones."
I would recommend this nonfiction to readers who have experience sailing the ocean.
