The Wager by David Grann Book Review
I have accepted and quite proud of my male, middle age obsession of artic and sea adventure non-fiction. The Wager by David Grann is the latest to add to my collection of these types of stories. And after reading a bunch of books that I struggled to get into, this was a bit of a breath of fresh air. That is not to say this is the shining star of the sub genre, but it is definitely entertaining.
The quick synopsis: A British fleet, wishing to harass and rob from the Spanish fleet during a “minor” conflict sets off from England to the Pacific, rounding Cape Horn. This is during the time that few ships had successfully made this journey. And as we learn, The Wager is one of those casualties. While several other ships from the armada do make it, and have some minor successes, it is considered one of the major blunders of Britain’s rise to navel power.
But this book primarily focuses on The Wager and her crew. How the ship wrecks on the coast of Patagonia. A desolate region of the world where Europeans find they are unequipped to survive long-term. The crew, already weakened and ravaged by the rough seas and scurvy, must find a way not only to survive, but to rescue themselves. There is no hope of rescue, since the Admiral of the fleet is forced to assume the ship is lost with all hands.
The primary figures of this crew, Captain Cheap, John Bulkeley, and John Byron (the grandfather of the famous writer), must find a way to work together or they will all surely perish. We know there are survivors since we have this story at all. That and the book starts off with telling us that two separate groups have been discovered over the period of several years.
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The way this book is written is similar with how many of these books are written now. Grann has gone through any and all first hand accounts of what the individual officers and crew wrote while on the voyage and afterwards. He also has done incredible research into the life of mariners during that time. But this book does not read like a textbook. Instead, in the current fashion, Grann gives us a narrative with some license as to what is said and actions taken to add flavor for the reader. That is not to say he does what contemporaries of the time did, which was create flowery novels based off of dashing adventures, often glossing over the worse of the hardships the navel officers (as it was often just the officers accounts that were published) suffered.
This story creates a bit of a challenge. Unlike many of the accounts from these times, John Bulkeley, a commoner and cannoneer, wrote a meticulous diary of his own. This account and the book he later published contradicts much of what Captain Cheap wrote and later claimed. To muddy the waters even more, many other seamen had their versions ghost written. Or, what we would call tabloids these days, fabricated their own stories to make something even more sensational. Finally, John Byron would much later in life publish his own thoughts on the whole thing, creating another version of events. For Grann to wade through all of this and have to pick what he believed to be the closest to the truth must be a tough job. And it is going to be biased to boot. But also having so many contradicting stories, but with the same themes running through each narrative, he is also getting a much more accurate picture than some of these stories where we only have one, maybe two, versions of events, often from the perspective of the captain or a scientist.
All of this to say, this is an interesting story that really delves deep into the psychology of men who have lost all hope and are on the brink of starving to death. It has a powerful lesson in how human fallacies and egos can clash and create strife when, instead, they should be coming together. It shows the betrayal of trust and the pains of making hard leadership decisions that you know is going to get people killed.
This is by no means the best version of this kind of story. I have read enough of these now to see that Grann’s writing is not quite to the par of some of these other adventure novels that I have read. The book drags at times. At other times you can see where Grann is trying to fill in more information than he actually has because he felt something important needed to be said, but his sources are lacking. Finally, there are the many times he breaks the fourth wall to inform us where his sources contradict each other and he is refusing to pick a side. All of this combined would be enough to pull myself out of engrossment and I would have to fight to get back into that world. It is a minor gripe, but it is what is keeping this story from reaching its full potential.
What surprised me the most was the number of people that survived and made it back to England. The sheer number of people abandoned, starving, scurvy-ridden, captured, shipwrecked over and over again is unfathomable. To think any of these men survived at all is mind boggling. It just goes to show what a will to live can do for someone, even on the brink. It also makes you wonder what these survivors had that those did not didn’t. Is it simply slightly worse luck? Or was something else going on too?
I thought it was surprisingly clever what the Admiralty did at the end to save face of themselves and everyone involved. The fact that the sailors and officers were able to swallow their pride long enough to not throw their worst enemies under the bus is something to aspire to. Every single survivor from the Wager could have been hung for some action they did during their journey. Yet they all realized they were being given an out and some form of forgiveness due to the hardships they suffered. And they took it without hesitation. Not that they were being given license to absolution for their sins, but everyone involved was led to realize that dredging up old grudges would only hurt themselves and their country. It wasn’t justice, especially for those who died (along with their families), but it was a cleaning of the slate so people could move on. Something people today should consider more often as we try to move past conflict into something resembling cooperation.
This book is worth the read. It has a lot of lessons to learn from. It is a compelling story that is well told. The few complaints I had about it should not prevent anyone who considers themselves an enthusiast of this genre from reading it. And those that aren’t into this type of story… I feel sorry for you, because you are missing out. ;)
