The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder

“We all impose some coherence—some meaning—on the chaotic events of our existence. We rummage through the raw images of our memories, selecting, burnishing, erasing. We emerge as the heroes of our stories, allowing us to live with what we have done—or haven’t done.”

The court martial depended on first-person accounts, highlighting the question of how reliable these accounts are. Both John Bulkeley and Captain David Cheap were the protagonists in their own version of events. Likewise, because the mutiny on Wager Island reflected poorly on the British Empire, the mutiny was gradually forgotten.

“The conflict was the result of the endless jockeying among the European powers to expand their empires. They each vied to conquer or control ever larger swaths of the earth, so that they could exploit and monopolize other nations’ valuable natural resources and trade markets.”

To understand the story of the Wager, it is important to remember the context of the colonial struggle between Britain and Spain. Not only did the Wager set out to serve Britain’s colonial mission, the events of the mutiny and the treatment of the narratives emerging from it were shaped by this backdrop of colonial conflict.

“During the age of sail, when wind-powered vessels were the only bridge across the vast oceans, nautical language was so pervasive that it was adopted by those on terra firma.”

The British navy played a large role in British society. Not only was it an opportunity for a career and social advancement; it also influenced British culture and language. “Terra firma” refers to land.