46 pages • 1 hour read
David GrannThe Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2023A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Key Figures
David Grann
A native of Connecticut, David Grann is a journalist. His work has focused on United States and South American history, crime, and European colonialization of the Americas. In addition, he has taught courses in creative writing at Boston University. He has written for The New Yorker, The Washington Post, and Slate, among other publications, and worked as an editor for The Hill and The New Republic.
The Wager (2023) was preceded by another book by Grann discussing the exploits of captains in the British navy, The White Darkness (2018). Grann’s other works include The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon (2009) and Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI (2017).
Captain David Cheap
A younger son from a minor Scottish noble family, Cheap joined the navy for the sake of a career. Early on, Cheap rose to the rank of lieutenant. He was partially motivated to enter the navy because he was estranged from his older brother. However, Cheap also perceived himself as a “knight-errant of the sea” and was ambitious to become a captain (35). Eventually, he was appointed the captain of the ill-fated ship, the Wager.
As captain, Cheap had a reputation among his own men for being “stubborn” and “vainglorious” (133). Even after the shipwreck of the Wager, Cheap tried to maintain a strict order over the castaways. He resorted to violence, especially by shooting and killing a rebellious member of the crew, Cozens. After their return to England, Cheap was not arrested on charges of murder or discharged from the navy. Eventually, he retired from the navy and purchased an estate in Scotland, although his career was forever marred by the mutiny on Wager Island.
John Bulkeley
John Bulkeley was a lower-ranking officer, a gunner, on the Wager. Despite the violent nature of his work, he was a devout Christian. He came from a lower-class background and had little hope for a promotion (46). A hard worker, he was known for doing “his tasks with […] ruthless efficiency” (44). Like senior officers in the navy, Bulkeley kept a detailed written account of his voyages, even though he did not come from an upper-class, educated background like most officers who produced travelogues discussing their time on the sea.
Bulkeley became a natural leader on Wager Island. He helped to build an effective shelter for survivors out of the wreckage of the Wager. When resistance to Captain Cheap’s leadership reached a boiling point, Bulkeley became the leader of the mutiny and led his supporters to the Strait of Magellan in order to return to Britain. He was absolved of any charges of mutiny during the resulting court martial. In the end, he migrated to Pennsylvania and “vanished from history” (253).
John Byron
From distinguished nobility, John Byron came from “one of the oldest lines in England” (28). Despite the stigma against naval service for members of the high aristocracy, he joined the navy; he was not in line to inherit his family’s aristocratic title and was drawn to the romance of life on the seas. His grandson was the poet Lord Byron, whom Grann argues incorporated some of John’s experiences as a stowaway into his poetry.
John Byron left behind one of the more detailed accounts of what happened on the Wager and Wager Island, which he published as The Narrative of the Honourable John Byron (1768). He briefly joined the mutiny against Captain Cheap, but later decided to remain with the captain on the island. After the survivors returned to Britain and were not charged by a court martial, Byron rose through the ranks of the navy and became a vice admiral.
Related Titles
By David Grann
