The Wager

A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder

By: David Grann

Narrated by: Dion Graham, David Grann

#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.

Not quite a thumbs-up

Story of HMS Wager is an interesting true tale of shipwreck, survival and mutiny. Meticulously researched, it relates the incredible capacity men have to survive in extreme peril and despite the savagery of Mother Nature. However the book is dry in parts, unnecessarily dramatic in parts, and devolves into 21st century wokeness in parts. Initially claiming to relate the story in a way that “let’s the reader” decide whether the mutiny was justified, the author frequently chooses sides by inserting praising, or inflammatory adjectives to describe (more accurately ascribe) the actions taken by the men.

Ultimately, by straying from the tale and injecting his judgments proved distracting.

The narrator was far too histrionic for my tastes.

Don’t let the negative reviews dissuade you! Enthralling!

Wow! This was a crazy book! I really enjoyed it! I hadn’t heard of it but it was one of Books A Million’s Book’s of the Month so I decided to give it a try. There were quite a few negative reviews so I almost didn’t give it a try but I’m glad I did! The story is filled with tragedy but the whole story is interesting and there are many twists & turns. The book is expertly researched and the narration is fantastic! So many people said the narration was terrible and I couldn’t disagree more! I’m super picky when it comes to narration and there are several narrators I love like Ray Porter & Fred Saunders and I’d put this gentleman right up there with them! He reads the book with passion, conviction and edge of your seat expressiveness. I loved it! If you’re into tales of the sea, if you like stories about sailors, shipwreck, survivors, and being stranded on dessert islands or adventure, this book will be a winner for you too.

insanely good

really well performed, great story, clearly meticulously researched. Loved every word, all the side stories and reflections.

Excellent!

Overall great experience this historical masterpiece read like a fiction novel even though all of the facts are well documented and explained. Loved the narration as well. Hope everyone picks up a copy of this audiobook or physical book. It’s worth it.

Wow

Wonderful and captivating story of life on the high seas. In depth research was conducted to produce an exceptional novel.