They were heralded as heroes when they returned back home. In the process, however, the crew shipwrecked on a desolate island off the coast of Patagonia, and after many months of trials, they finally built a ship and crossed three thousand miles of stormy seas. They were to carry out a secret mission relating to the imperial war with Spain, and ended up chasing a treasure-filled galleon, known back then as “the prize of all the oceans”. The real story essentially begins on January 28th, 1742, when a ramshackle vessel washes up on the coast of Brazil, carrying thirty emaciated men, survivors of The Wager, a British vessel which left England all the way back in 1740. With these clarifications out of the way, let us proceed with the book itself. All the people and events portrayed here were real and documented, and if there are moments of speculative nature, the author always makes sure to point it out. Just to be perfectly clear, this is a work of non-fiction, but woven into a cohesive narrative which makes it into a story, rather than a history lesson. Sometimes they succeeded, other times they failed, an on rare occasions they faced a fate such as the crew in The Wager by David Grann. With no GPS, radio communications, refrigerators, satellite guidance, or proper medical knowledge, people still set sail for the high seas in search of treasure and glory. Maritime travel has changed in innumerable ways since the advent of modern ships, technology, and navigational techniques, making it quite difficult for us to truly imagine what the process entailed hundreds of years ago.

The wager book david grann