The Wager Mutiny is a historical event that took place in 1741, after the British warship HMS Wager was wrecked on a desolate island off the south coast of present-day Chile.
Wager was part of a naval squadron bound to attack Spanish interests in the Pacific. She lost contact with the squadron while rounding Cape Horn, ran aground during a storm, and wrecked on what would become known as Wager Island. The main body of the crew mutinied against their captain, David Cheap, abandoned him and a group of loyal crew members on the island, and set off in a modified schooner (named Speedwell) via the Strait of Magellan to Portuguese-administered Rio de Janeiro. Most of the mutineers either died or were abandoned on shore during the journey, but the survivors eventually returned to England.
Cheap's group could not weather the cape in the voyage north and therefore returned to Wager Island three months after they had left, having given up hope of escape. A few days later, however, a group of indigenous Chonos visited the island and, after some negotiation, agreed to guide the group north to the Spanish-inhabited Chiloé Archipelago in return for the longboat and some guns. Most of the group died on the journey from starvation and exposure, but Cheap and several others survived and returned to England in 1745, two years after the surviving mutineers. The adventures of the crew of Wager were a public sensation and inspired many narratives written by survivors and others to the present day.
Background and events before the wreck
HMS Wager
HMS Wager was a square-rigged, sixth-rate Royal Navy warship of 28 guns. She was built as an East Indiaman in approximately 1734 and made two voyages to India for the East India Company (EIC) before the navy purchased her in 1739. As an Indiaman, she carried 30 guns and had a crew of 98. Under Captain Charles Raymond, Wager sailed from the Downs on 13 February 1735, arriving in Madras on 18 July and returning to England via St Helena in July 1736. She made her second and final run for the EIC in 1738, sailing via the Cape of Good Hope to Madras and Bengal, and returning to the Downs on 27 August 1739.
The Admiralty purchased Wager from Mr J. Raymond on 21 November 1739, and rated her as a 28-gun sixth-rate. Wager was to complete a squadron under Commodore George Anson that would attack Spanish interests on the Pacific coast of South America, transporting arms, powder, and ammunition for landing parties. She was fitted for naval service at Deptford Dockyard between 23 November 1739 and 23 May 1740 for £7,096.2.4d and was registered as a sixth rate on 22 April 1740, being established with 120 men and 28 guns.
Commodore Anson's squadron
Anson's squadron consisted of some 1,980 men (crew plus infantry), of whom only 188 would survive the voyage. It included six warships and two victuallers (supply ships) in addition to Wager:
- Centurion, the flagship (a fourth-rate ship of 1,005 tons, 60 guns, and 400 men)
- Gloucester (866 tons, 50 guns, 300 men)
- Severn (683 tons, 50 guns, 300 men)
- Pearl (559 tons, 40 guns, 250 men)
- Wager (559 tons, 24 guns, 160 men)
- Tryal (201 tons, 8 guns, 70 men)
The two merchant vessels were Anna (400 tons, 16 men) and Industry (200 tons), both carrying additional stores. The squadron also included 470 invalids and disabled men discharged from Chelsea hospital under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Cracherode. Most of these men were the first to die during the hardships of the voyage. Their inclusion in place of regular troops was severely criticized by historian Glyndwr Williams as cruel and ineffective.
The inclusion of the invalids and marines caused overcrowding. For example, the Wager sailed with 250 men, only 105 of whom were crew.
Spithead to Staten Island
The squadron took forty days to reach Funchal, where they replenished supplies of water, wood, and food before making the Atlantic crossing to Santa Catarina. Two weeks into this leg of the journey, the store ship Industry signaled to Anson. The captain of Industry informed Anson that her contract had been fulfilled and the ship would return to England immediately. Her stores were distributed among the remaining ships, with a large quantity of rum sent aboard Wager. Many men in the squadron died of scurvy due to lack of fresh citrus fruits or meats. The high contingent of invalids, coupled with disease among the crew, meant that Anson's squadron was in poor condition for the arduous rounding of Cape Horn.
Anson used his authority to have Captain Dandy Kidd transferred from Wager to Pearl and Captain Murray to Wager. Kidd died of sickness after the squadron left Santa Catarina and before they reached the straits of Staten Island. He allegedly made a deathbed prediction of success and riches for some, but death and devastating hardship for the crew of Wager.
Murray was relieved of command and sent back to the Pearl. Anson then moved Lieutenant David Cheap from the small sloop Tryal and named him acting captain of Wager. Cheap had no experience commanding a large vessel. Cheap was, however, a capable seaman and navigator, a big and imposing man, and a loyal and determined officer. Anson impressed on Cheap the importance of Wager and her role in the mission, as the squadron would draw on her store of small arms and ammunition to attack shore bases along the coast of present-day Chile, along with the heavy siege guns carried in the ship's hold.
The rounding of the Horn
The delays of the voyage were most keenly felt when the squadron rounded Cape Horn. Weather conditions were atrocious; high sea states and contrary winds meant that progress west was very slow. Added to this was the deteriorating health of Wager's crew: the ongoing scurvy outbreak meant few non-disabled seamen were available to work the ship and carry out running repairs to the continually battered rigging.
After many weeks working westwards to clear the Horn, the squadron turned north when navigational reckoning suggested enough westing had been made. At this time, latitudinal determination was relatively easy with the use of a sextant; however, longitudinal determination was much harder to predict, requiring accurate timepieces or a good view of the stars on stable ground, neither of which was available to the squadron. The only other method available was dead reckoning, an impossible task given the storm conditions, strong, unfamiliar currents, and the length of time involved. The intention was to turn north only when Anson was reasonably certain that the Horn had been cleared.
The result was nearly a complete disaster. In the middle of the night, the moon shone through the cloud for a few minutes, revealing to diligent sentinels aboard Anna towering waves breaking onto the Patagonian coastline. Anna fired guns and set up lights to warn the other ships of the danger. Without this sighting, the whole of Anson's squadron would have been dashed upon the coast, with the likely loss of all hands. The ships turned around and headed south again into huge seas and a foul wind. During one particularly severe night, Wager became separated from the rest of the squadron and was unable to reestablish contact; the squadron assumed she was lost and continued.
Events leading up to the wreck and on Wager Island
The wrecking of Wager
As Wager, now alone, continued beating to the west, the crew debated when to turn north and hopefully rejoin Anson. The ship was in bad shape, however, and nearly out of healthy crew members to man her. The dilemma became contentious when Cheap stated his intention to make for Socorro Island. The gunner, John Bulkeley, objected strongly to this proposal, instead arguing that they should proceed to the secondary squadron rendezvous, the island of Juan Fernández, their primary destination; it was not as close to the mainland as Socorro and was less likely to result in the wrecking of the ship on a lee shore. Bulkeley was recognized as probably the most capable seaman on the ship and held an officer's rank. Navigation was technically the master's responsibility, Thomas Clark, but Cheap had little respect for him or his opinions.
Bulkeley repeatedly tried and failed to convince Cheap that, given the state of Wager and the uncharted area they were in, he should change his navigational course or risk wrecking the ship. Bulkeley was to prove exactly correct, but Cheap refused to change course. What Bulkeley did not know was that Cheap was following his orders, and it had been impressed upon him that the siege guns in the hold of Wager were required for attacking Valdivia; he was unwilling to abandon hope of reuniting with Anson. These orders were secret and Bulkeley's belief that Juan Fernández was their secondary rendezvous was incorrect.
On 13 May 1741, at 9 am, John Cummins, Wager's carpenter, went forward to inspect the ship's chainplates. Whilst there, he thought he caught a fleeting glimpse of land to the west. The first lieutenant, Baynes, was also on deck but saw nothing; thus, the sighting was not reported. Baynes was later reprimanded at a court-martial for failing to alert the captain, thereby losing a precious opportunity to save the ship. Unbeknownst to the crew, Wager had entered a large uncharted bay, now called the Gulf of Penas, and the land to the west was later to be called the Tres Montes Peninsula.
At 2 pm, land was positively sighted to the west and northwest. All surviving hands were mustered to make sail and turn the ship to the southwest. During the frantic operations that followed, Cheap fell down the quarterdeck ladder and dislocated his shoulder, resulting in his confinement below. What followed was a night of terrible weather, with Wager becoming difficult to steer as her lack of maintenance left the hull and rigging at breaking point. At 4:30 am, the ship struck rocks repeatedly and broke her tiller. The hull was punctured, and water quickly flooded the lower decks, drowning dozens of ill and disabled crew members. Bulkeley and another sailor, John Jones, began steering the ship with sail alone towards land, but later in the morning the ship struck again; this time, the hull was damaged beyond repair and Wager began to sink.
Shipwrecked on Wager Island
Wager struck rocks off the coast of a small, uninhabited island. Overcome with terror at the prospect of sinking, some of the men ransacked the ship's rum stores and became uncontrollably drunk and violent. As they went about looting the officers' quarters, the other survivors took to the boats and reached land. They detached four vessels that were strapped to the deck: a longboat, a cutter, a yawl, and a barge, and used these to get to shore and to return many times to get supplies off the ship. Their prospects were desperate, as they were shipwrecked far into the southern latitudes at the start of winter; little food remained, and the desolate island had few resources to sustain them.
The crew was dangerously divided, with many blaming Cheap for their predicament. On 15 May, Wager bilged (the bottom of the hull broke open) amidships, and many of the drunken crew were found to have drowned. The only crewmembers left aboard were boatswain John King, a rebellious and difficult individual, and a few of his followers, but after a few days they consented to be taken ashore.
Mutiny
With the crew of Wager frightened at their situation and angry with Cheap, dissent and insubordination grew. King managed to find and load a cannon, firing a shot at Cheap's hut and threatening to load another until the captain sent boats to rescue him and his followers.
The crew knew that they were in danger of harsh justice if they mutinied, so for the time, they tried to negotiate with Cheap. Full mutiny would likely not have occurred had Cheap agreed to a plan of escape devised by Bulkeley, who had the confidence of most of the men. He proposed that Cummins, the carpenter, would lengthen the longboat and convert it into a schooner which could accommodate more men. They would make their way via the Strait of Magellan to either Brazil or the British West Indies, and then home to England. The smaller barge and cutter would accompany the schooner and be important for inshore foraging work along their journey. Bulkeley was skillful enough to give the plan a chance of success. Despite much prevarication, Cheap refused to accept Bulkeley's plan.
Cheap was in a predicament. By being shipwrecked, he would automatically be tried with the possibility of expulsion from the navy, and a strong likelihood of a lifetime of poverty and isolation. At worst, he could be found guilty of cowardice and executed by firing squad, as demonstrated a few years later by the 1757 execution of Admiral John Byng. Cheap wanted to head north along the coast to rendezvous with Anson at Valdivia. His warrant officers had warned him against some of his actions, which would reflect badly on him when the Admiralty investigated the loss of Wager.
The mutineers later justified their actions based on other events, including Cheap's shooting of a midshipman named Henry Cozens. Cheap heard an altercation and a shot fired outside his tent, came out in a rage, and shot Cozens, with whom he had a documented animosity, in the face at point-blank range without any warning. Cheap ordered Cozens moved to the sick tent, where he was operated on twice to remove the bullet and a fragment, but died after 14 days.