The British warship HMSWagerwas supposed to “annoy and distress the Spaniards” in the South Seas. Instead, the crew became stranded on an uninhabited island — and descended into chaos.
Wikimedia CommonsTheWagermutiny was a sensation in the 1740s , but it was afterwards overshadowed by other mutiny .
For the HMSWager , a damned ocean trip around the world start as a difficult journeying and turn into a hellish one , marked by disease , shipwreck , hunger , mutiny , despair , murder , and even cannibalism .
The twelvemonth was 1741 , Britain and Spain were at war , and theWagerwas part of a grouping of British warship that were ordered to “ annoy and distress the Spaniards ” in the South Seas . But then , the gang on theWagerfound themselves shipwrecked upon a stark island off the coast of Chile .
Wikimedia CommonsTheWagermutiny was a sensation in the 1740s, but it was later overshadowed by other mutinies.
Cast aside in a removed corner of the humankind , palisade by uncongenial sea , many members of theWagercrew descended into mutiny , revolting against their captain and set off on a perilous 2,500 - maritime - mile journey to Brazil . Though this incident lead to many calamity , including the deaths of slews of crew members , it also led to astonishing feats of seafaring and endurance .
This is the honest history behind theWagermutiny , one of history ’s most striking — yet often forgotten — rebellions at ocean .
The Original Mission Of The HMSWager
warfare had been brewing between Britain and Spain for years . There were many reason for the conflict , but the best - known story follows British Captain Robert Jenkins , who was accused by a Spanish coast guard of smuggling goods near Cuba in 1731 . According to Jenkins , when officers could n’t find the alleged goods on his ship , one officer cut off his ear . afterwards , in 1738 , Jenkins was summoned to relate his tarradiddle before Parliament .
At the time , many British authorities were complaining about the Spanish restricting their swop in the Americas . And Jenkins allegedly arrest his ear cut off seemed to be the perfect way to symbolize the brutality that the Spaniards were unforced to turn over to in parliamentary procedure to suppress British business deal . As legend has it , Jenkins may have even present his pickled pinna during the sense of hearing .
One year later , the so - calledWar Of Jenkins ’ Earbegan . Though much of the fight took place in or near the Caribbean Sea , British Commodore George Anson was break orders for a very unlike expedition .
Wikimedia CommonsBritish Commodore George Anson was ordered to wreak havoc on the Spanish empire in the Pacific during the War of Jenkins’ Ear, with the HMSWagermaking up part of his force.
Wikimedia CommonsBritish Commodore George Anson was ordered to wreak mayhem on the Spanish empire in the Pacific during the War of Jenkins ’ Ear , with the HMSWagermaking up part of his force .
According to theU.S. Naval Institute , Anson was instructed to sail across the Atlantic , around the hostile waters of Cape Horn , and then take the warfare to the South Seas . He was ordered to “ annoy and straiten the Spaniards , either at sea or demesne , to the utmost of your mogul , by taking , sinking , combustion , or otherwise destroying all their ships and vessels that you shall fulfil with . ”
He was also told to “ seize , surprise , or take any of the Ithiel Town or places belonging to the Spaniards on the seacoast . ”
Wikimedia CommonsGeorge Anson’s ships HMSCenturion, HMSWager, and HMSPearlin 1741.
To complete this missionary post , Anson pile up six warships — one of which was the HMSWager — and prepared for the challenging ocean trip forward .
From Scurvy To Shipwreck
Wikimedia CommonsGeorge Anson ’s ship HMSCenturion , HMSWager , and HMSPearlin 1741 .
TheWagerwasn’t originally built as a war vessel and was instead a merchant ship that had been re - buy and renovated for fight , so its primary project was to extend weapons , naval equipment , food , and beverages .
Since selective service did n’t exist in Britain at the time and authority were miss in volunteers to join the squadron , they forced any former mariners they could find to board theWager . According toNPR , they also entered retirement home to forcibly recruit mankind in their sixty and LXX to join the crowd — even if they were visibly sick or missing arms or legs .
Charles Brooking/Wikimedia CommonsDisease was only the beginning of the HMSWager’sproblems, as the vessel would soon be shipwrecked.
Unsurprisingly , bad luck plagued theWagerfrom the outset of the voyage in September 1740 . While the vessel was cross the Atlantic , several men fell ill from typhus . Then , as the ship made its way around Cape Horn , many man became crazy from scurvy . Before long , some of the sick get to die . At some full point , the original captain of the ship also fail and had to be replace with the second - in - command on another ship , David Cheap .
Though theWagereventually navigated around Cape Horn , the vessel was in poor shape from the rough waters , and it also became dissever from the rest of its squadron . As many crew members continue to suffer from illness and shinny to maneuver their battered vessel , they must have felt a horse sense of dread when they realized that the weather was worsening .
Charles Brooking / Wikimedia CommonsDisease was only the commencement of the HMSWager’sproblems , as the vessel would shortly be shipwrecked .
Wikimedia CommonsCaptain Cheap’s decision to shoot Midshipman Henry Cozens was one of many reasons why the crew mutinied.
On May 14 , 1741 , hurricane - force tip cause theWagerto wreck upon a bleak island off the sea-coast of Chile , now known as Wager Island .
By this point , many of the sick men had drowned , but about 140 survivor successfully made it to the shore . ( There had been about 250 people onboard when the ship had first depart on its journey . ) At first , the survive men were optimistic about the island , thinking that it would be a good station to assay shelter as they contemplated their next steps .
But the island was uninhabited and thus had piffling to offer in full term of protection . The man also struggled to find intellectual nourishment on the island , and while they did have some food left from their ship , Captain Cheap hold on it in a tent so it could be rationed out over clip . Many of the men began to suffer from starvation as well as hypothermia due to the cold , windy , and rainy weather .
Wikimedia CommonsJohn Bulkeley was key to planning theWagermutiny, but he couldn’t have pulled it off alone.
As Cheap laterwrote , “ My ship ’s company at that unhappy juncture [ when shipwrecked ] were almost all tired of , own not more than six or seven seamen , and three or four Marine , that were able-bodied to keep the deck . ”
Though the work party was briefly confab by a grouping of well-disposed Indigenous people who traveled by canoe — and had understandably adapted to living in such a harsh environment — the British reject to accept assist from what they believed was an “ inferior ” civilization . The work party members only accepted assistance from their captain , but before long , they even begin to misplace faith in him .
Mutiny On Wager Island
Wikimedia CommonsCaptain Cheap ’s determination to shoot Midshipman Henry Cozens was one of many reasons why the crew mutinied .
At first , the crew member remained loyal to Captain Cheap , who was set to hold naval legal philosophy while on the inhospitable island . But as the men grew more inauspicious from starvation and exhaustion , all sense of discipline completely go away . Many member of the crew became vehement toward one another , and some became so hungry that they descend into cannibalism , eating the body of their dead shipmate .
In this disorderly environs , the crew member even start to fight with their skipper .
Wikimedia CommonsCaptain David Cheap was a skilled sailor, but he was clearly despised by his men.
Though Cheap believed it would be best to reconstruct theWager’slongboat and jaunt northerly to rejoin Anson and the squadron , the Brobdingnagian legal age of his crew members thought that travel Confederate States was their best fortune at surviving — since they could then eventually find refuge in Brazil .
Perhaps the last drinking straw for the crew penis was when Cheap fatally shot Midshipman Henry Cozens , who ’d been criminate of dereliction of duty . Almost no one believed that the execution was justify , especially since Cozens had died a slow , agonizing last over the course of several day .
by nature , the gang fellow member began to search for new leading , and they found it in John Bulkeley , a machine gunner . Despite the harsh conditions , Bulkeley rally most of the crew to his side by using language that emphasized duty and pureness , inspiring them that there could still be a chance of survival .
Wikimedia CommonsJohn Bulkeley was key to contrive theWagermutiny , but he could n’t have pulled it off alone .
Together , they on the Q.T. plan to mutiny against Cheap , even creating a written record of their plan and the reason behind their uprising .
After the serviceman were done work out on lengthening the longboat for their arduous journey ahead , they take control of the gravy boat , tied Cheap up , and abandoned him on the island with 18 other man who remain fast to him .
There were 81 mutineers who left on the longboat bound for Brazil in October 1741 . It would be a 2,500 - maritime - mile journeying full of the same boisterous waters that they had struggled to journey through month earlier , and they would face many of the same challenges they had before . By the time they land in Brazil in January 1742 , there were only 29 survivors left .
Those who experience were welcomed with undefendable sleeve by the Portuguese in Brazil , astounded that any of the mutineers had survive at all . Shockingly , it was later on expose that Captain Cheap had last the incident as well .
The Aftermath Of TheWagerMutiny
Wikimedia CommonsCaptain David Cheap was a skilled sailor , but he was clearly despised by his men .
When Captain David Cheap was left behind on Wager Island , he recall he was done for . But implausibly , he and some of his patriotic bunch member were soon rescue by a group of Indigenous citizenry lead by the island .
They were assume to Chile , where they face the challenges of the wild . At one point , they were held by the Spanish . Cheap would n’t make it back to England until 1745 , alongside just two other Man who ’d been left to die on the island ( include John Byron , afterward the granddaddy of the poet Lord Byron ) . Many were surprised that any of them survived .
The mutineers had already returned to England in 1743 . Unlike their initial landing in Brazil , they did not receive a Heron ’s welcome in their home state . They were widely criticized for the mutiny , and many of the mutineer dread that they ’d face charges for their actions .
But as it turned out , Cheap was not concerned in pressing his luck at the court martial that he and his former crew member would be summoned to . After all , Cheap was at peril of being charge with murder for killing Cozens . Everyone at the court martial was so terrified that they ’d be hang that they were heedful not to say anything that could ache their own causa .
Amazingly , in the end , no one was convict of mutiny or murder during the court martial . Some believe this is because theWager’svoyage had been so disastrous that the Navy hope to sweep it under the carpet .
But there was one significant change made to British naval police force in the aftermath . The mutineer had argued that , since their wage had block when theWagerwent down , they were n’t under naval law and could n’t be charged with mutiny . The wording of the laws concerning mutiny were changed to apply to all Royal Navy ships,“wrecked , lose , or take on . ”Mutiny would smite the Navy again in years to come , but theWagerloophole was shut .
After read about the Wager mutiny , go inside the harrowing reliable news report of thewhaleship Essexthat inspire “ Moby Dick . ” Then , take a look at the grim history of the lostFranklin Expedition .
