David Grann is one of the best nonfiction authors today. He writes on a multitude of subjects; this book is about a shipwreck and subsequent mutiny in the 1740s. 

He describes the plight of the officers, trying to outfit their ships with no money and few worthy crewmen, as well as that of the unwitting men press ganged (ie, kidnapped by the Royal Navy) onto ships they were ill-equipped to crew. No matter that some were sick, criminal, juvenile, or elderly, all were rounded up in a time of war and forced to serve. 

The ship split into factions rather than working as a whole so in a time of crisis, it was no surprise that any discontent would devolve into mutiny. Alcohol, disease, starvation, and fear exacerbated the stresses on everyone. Before the benefits of vitamins were known, scurvy could wipe out a crew both physically and mentally. On top of typhus and shipwrecks, sometimes less than 20% of a crew made it back home. 

Grann explains how this volatility affected the voyage of the Wager, and how the chain of command fell apart once the shipwrecked men were on shore. His copious research reveals that there were too many different versions of truth to know which was the most factual. The Admiralty wanted the embarrassment to just fade away so the court martial didn’t address any of the real issues. 

I didn’t feel as much a part of this book as with Killers of the Flower Moon. I was wracked with guilt as I read what the white people did to the Osage and I felt complicit. I didn’t have that closeness to The Wager. Considering how dire the circumstances, that’s likely a good thing. 

During my book club’s nominations, I voted for The Wager without realising it was non-fiction. Usually, I find non-fiction books, especially non-fiction history books, a little dry and difficult to get absorbed in for long periods of time so, despite the promise of shipwreck, mutiny and murder, I took on The Wager with some trepidation.

As it turned out, David Grann’s writing style is particularly easy to read: he tells the story of The Wager almost as it were a novel, in linear order and from multiple viewpoints, keeping the focus on the narrative and not on the process of research. Characters who could easily have merged into one mass of navy sailors had distinct personalities and characteristics: particularly John Byron, grandfather to the poet George Gordon Byron, whose works provided illuminating quotations at relevant points.

David Grann’s introduction set up an interesting opposition between two different contemporary versions of what happened on Wager Island, but this set up an expectation which wasn’t entirely met by the text. While questions were raised about who, and which actions, were morally correct, there seemed to be little dispute over the actual facts of what happened. The ending, too, was surprisingly simple and easy given that there had been hints of a great argument. 

The bulk of The Wager is focused on the journey, the shipwreck and the aftermath. There’s no shortage of action and harrowing details of life at sea in the 1740s. This isn’t the kind of book you read to put yourself in the shoes of the main character and fulfil the wish for an exciting life. Instead, it’s best taken from a safe distance as a display of the human survival spirit. 

While I was impressed with David Grann’s writing, I didn’t particularly enjoy the story as much as I might have hoped.