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Blink 3 of 8 - The 5 AM Club
by Robin Sharma
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The Wager summary
David Grann
A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder
19 mins
Table of Contents
The Wager
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Key idea 1 of 5
A captain’s first voyage
David Cheap longed to be a captain. But in September 1740, after spending much of his 40 years of life at sea, this goal remained just out of reach. He was, however, the first lieutenant aboard the HMS Centurion, which made him second-in-command. The Centurion was the 60-gun flagship of a squadron that consisted of five other smaller warships: the Gloucester, the Severn, the Pearl, the Wager, and the smallest of them all, an 8-gun sloop called the Trial. There was also one scouting sloop and two merchant vessels. Their aim was to sail around Cape Horn, at the very bottom of South America, then enter the Pacific, and disrupt Spanish colonies and trade routes.
Since October 1739, Britain had been at war with Spain in what was known as the War of Jenkins’ Ear – so named after a British merchant who had his ear cut off by a Spanish officer who accused Jenkins of smuggling sugar. The War of Jenkins’ Ear had been mostly a failure for Britain thus far. It had done nothing to diminish Spain’s power and influence. But in 1740, the British Navy still had hopes of thwarting its rival. In fact, one of the objectives given to the squadron was to intercept and plunder a Spanish galleon ship known to be full of treasure for the purposes of buying silks and Asian spices.
Still, finding crewmen for six warships wasn’t easy. The War of Jenkins’ Ear hadn’t exactly inspired a rush of volunteers. Instead, groups of men known as press gangs had to scour the dockyards and British shorelines for anyone who fit the bill. Boys as young as six years old were conscripted, as were the elderly and the infirm. Thieves and former prison convicts were also snatched. One admiral described the lot as “the filth of London.” Indeed, it was an unfortunate fact that many brought on board carried lice, which, unbeknownst at the time, were a primary cause of typhoid fever.
The Centurion was hoping to set sail with 500 souls on board. One of the other warships, the Wager, carried 250 men. Among the Wager’s crew was a 16-year-old midshipman, John Byron, who was one of the few who came from a well-to-do family. He’d eventually be the grandfather of the famous poet Lord Byron.
When the squadron finally set sail on September 18, 1740, they were all under the command of Commodore George Anson, who was captain of the Centurion. But after reaching Madeira, off the northwestern coast of Africa, one of the other captains wished to resign. So, a reshuffling took place, and David Cheap got the one thing he’d been dreaming of all these years: he finally became captain. The vessel under his command was to be the Trial. It was one of the smallest ships in the squadron, but he was now, officially, Captain Cheap.
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What is The Wager about?
The Wager (2023) recounts the unbelievable-but-true story of the doomed adventure taken by those aboard the HMS Wager. This Royal Navy ship was meant to sail the world and plunder Spanish treasure, but in 1741 it was shipwrecked while trying to sail around Cape Horn. This is the story of how a crew of hundreds dwindled to just a handful of survivors.
Who should read The Wager?
- Fans of classic seafaring tales like Moby Dick and Mutiny on the Bounty
- People who love death-defying stories of heroic endurance
- Those interested in historical mysteries and conspiracies
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