The Wager Disaster

by C. H. Layman

  We Englishmen, when we came ashore, went immediately on the Change.[61] I was pretty well known to some gentlemen of the English factory. When I informed them that we were three of the unfortunate people that were cast away in the Wager, and that we came here in one of the Brazil ships, and wanted to embrace the first opportunity of going for England, they told me that the Lieutenant had been before us; that he was gone home in the packet-boat, and left us a very indifferent character. I answered that I believed the Lieutenant could give but a very bad account of himself, having kept no journal, nor made any remarks[62] since the loss of the ship, nor perhaps before; that we doubted not but to acquit ourselves of any false accusations, having with us a journal which gave an impartial relation of all our proceedings. The journal was read by several gentlemen of the factory, who treated us, during our stay at Lisbon, with exceeding kindness and benevolence.

  On the 20th December we embarked on board His Majesty’s ship Stirling Castle for England. Here we had again the happiness of experiencing the difference between a British and a foreign ship, particularly in regard to cleanliness, accommodation, diet, and discipline. We met with nothing material in our passage, and arrived at Spithead, on the 1st January 1743.

  Here we thought of nothing but going ashore immediately to our families; but were told by the Captain, we must not stir out of the ship till he knew the pleasure of the Lords of the Admiralty, having already wrote to them concerning us. This was a very great affliction to us; and the more so, because we thought our troubles at an end. The Carpenter and myself were in view of our habitations; our families had long given us over for lost; and on the news of our safety our relatives looked upon us as sons, husbands, and fathers restored to them in a miraculous manner. Our being detained on board gave them great anxiety; we endeavoured to console them as well as we could, being assured that we had done nothing to offend Their Lordships; that if things had not been carried on with that order and regularity which is strictly observed in the navy, necessity drove us out of the common road.

  Our case was singular: since the loss of the ship, our chiefest concern was for the preservation of our lives and liberties; to accomplish which, we acted according to the dictates of nature and the best of our understanding.

  In a fortnight’s time Their Lordships ordered us at liberty, and we instantly went ashore to our respective habitations, having been absent from thence about two years and six months.

  After we had stayed a few days with our families we came to London to pay our duties to the Lords of the Admiralty. We sent in our journal for Their Lordships’ inspection; they had before received a narrative from the Lieutenant; which narrative he confesses to be a relation of such things as occurred to his memory; therefore of consequence could not be so satisfactory as a journal regularly kept. This journal lay for some time in the Admiralty Office; when we were ordered to make an abstract by way of narrative, that it might not be too tedious for Their Lordships’ perusal. After the narrative was examined into, Their Lordships, upon our petition, were pleased to fix a day for examining all the officers lately belonging to the Wager. The gentlemen appointed to make enquiry into the whole affair were three commanders of ships, persons of distinguished merit and honour. However, it was afterwards thought proper not to admit us to any examination till the arrival of the Commodore, or else Captain Cheap.

  It was also resolved that not a person of us should receive any wages, or be employed in His Majesty’s service,[63] till everything relating to the Wager was more plain and conspicuous. There was no favour shown in this case to one more than another; so that everybody seemed easy with Their Lordships’ resolution.

  All that we have to wish for now is the safe arrival of the Commodore and Captain Cheap. We are in expectation of soon seeing the former; but of the Captain we have as yet no account. However, we hope, when the Commodore shall arrive, that the character he will give of us will be of service to us. He was very well acquainted with the behaviour of every officer in his squadron, and will certainly give an account of them accordingly.

  Bulkeley cannot have been feeling as confident as he is here trying to appear in his journal. Whatever the reasons, he and the others had surprised the Captain in his sleep, and forcibly deprived him of his command. They had then abandoned him to an unknown fate – albeit at his own request. If Bulkeley was going to argue that the circumstances were extenuating, his case would have to be very strong indeed to convince a court-martial that this affair was not a very serious mutiny, for which the ringleaders deserved to swing.

  Lieutenant Baynes’s narrative (which regrettably has not survived) had caused a great stir in the Admiralty a few weeks before Bulkeley’s return, and Their Lordships had convened a Board of Inquiry. The Board directed that the Admiralty’s copy of the Wager’s muster list should be annotated from the Lieutenant’s narrative, and that he should provide such details as he could of the fate of the ship’s company. This document survives. There is a note at the top: “Memorandum. The deaths and discharges, with the other notations set off on this book, were taken from an account of Lieutenant Baynes’s, at the direction of the Board. E.B.”[64] Alongside Midshipman Henry Cozens the same hand has written, “Shot by the Captain about the end of June 1741.” There is a page devoted to the names of marines embarked: one is marked “R” (run, deserted), two “Come Home”, and of the remainder almost all have the melancholy notation “DD” –discharged dead.

  The overarching question of mutiny must have been in everyone’s mind, but as far as the Board of Inquiry was concerned enough witnesses and supporting evidence were not yet available for the necessary court-martial. The Board therefore made the decision to defer matters until more survivors should return. We can now follow those survivors in their continuing hardships.

  Way back in time and space, off the uninhabited coast of Argentina just south of what is now Mar del Plata, the long-boat had been under the nominal command of Lieutenant Baynes, but with Gunner Bulkeley effectively in charge. They had abandoned eight of their shipmates on shore, with Bulkeley claiming in his journal, “those people had a good prospect of getting provisions, and we believe inhabitants are not far off; they have all necessaries for shooting.” Such a claim seems to ring somewhat hollow when his motive for moving on, rather than waiting a day or two for the sea to moderate, was allegedly an inability to procure food. The fate of these eight castaways is now told by one of their number.

  This document was compiled by Lieutenant Baynes, who had been ordered by the Navy Board to attempt to recreate the Ship’s Muster Book, which had of course been lost with the wreck.

  The notation DD stands for Discharged Dead, and here we have the record of many Wager deaths, not in action but by scurvy, starvation, hypothermia, and in some cases violence. DD, a terse and seemingly callous notation, is still in use on official documents in the Royal Navy, perhaps with a hint of black humour.

  1 These were for trading with and befriending disaffected Indians in the Spanish colonies, should opportunity arise.

  2 The chain-plates at the end of the shrouds take all the athwartships strain of the sail and mast. See Glossary.

  3 The best bower anchor would have been stowed in the vicinity of the foremast, but it is not clear why cutting it away would have relieved the situation.

  4 See map p161.

  5 Now Guamblin.

  6 Byron is here slightly confusing. The ship would not be driving bodily on to the land they saw to the NW, which was Cabo Tres Montes, since the wind was W to WNW. But they were certainly embayed in a damaged ship, and the danger would have been obvious to all.

  7 That is, turned away from the wind to put the wind through the stern and on to the other tack. It would have been difficult to do this without some sort of foresail.

  8 Scurvy, the dreaded scourge of seamen of this era, is caused by lack of vitamin C. Symptoms are general debility of the body, extreme tenderness of the gums, foul breath, black eruptions on the skin, and severe pai
ns in the limbs.

  9 Morocco or Algeria.

  10 Sheets and braces control the set of the sails.

  11 However distasteful, the wild celery seems to have cured many who had been suffering from scurvy.

  12 Expensive clothes with lace and ruffles stolen from the officers’ chests.

  13 Turkey vulture.

  14 Midshipmen were then classed as petty officers, and were subordinate to commissioned officers (e.g. the Lieutenant), and also to warrant officers (e.g. the Gunner, Carpenter, Boatswain, and Purser).

  15 A league is three nautical miles, or nearly three and a half land miles.

  16 For a description of Wager’s boats, see Appendix A.

  17 The top edge of the ship’s side.

  18 Merchandise, probably cloth, done up in bales.

  19 Young’s account was written anonymously and in the third person, and possibly ghosted to some extent. His identity can only be deduced later from circumstantial evidence.

  20 Bulkeley’s version of the Captain’s refusal is even stronger: “No – I am so far from it that if he lives I will carry him a prisoner to the Commodore, and hang him.” But Campbell states that he had no knowledge of this alleged inhumanity until he read it in Bulkeley’s published Journal.

  21 That is, murder, which could not be justified by the Captain’s legal authority as laid down in his commission.

  22 Sir John Narborough’s voyage was in the years 1669-71, and his account of it was published in 1694.

  23 Possibly the Upland Goose.

  24 The Flightless Steamer Duck.

  25 Common Snipe.

  26 The Long-tailed Meadow Lark or Military Starling.

  27 The Thorn-tailed Rayadito.

  28 Possibly this was a puma, although pumas tend to be secretive and not aggressive.

  29 This part of Chile suffers from frequent earthquakes, which may be the reason for piles of shells on hilltops.

  30 Possibly a Huemul, a mid-sized deer, now very rare but then numerous and extremely tame.

  31 As published this journal was by John Bulkeley, Gunner and John Cummins, Carpenter, but there is good reason to think that Cummins had little to do with the writing of it. I have therefore referred to it throughout as Bulkeley’s, as he frequently does himself.

  32 The Captain of Marines, who were at this stage under the jurisdiction of the War Office, not the Admiralty.

  33 The Cooper’s account of this scene is somewhat different: “Just as we were going off Bulkeley would run to take a final adieu of the Captain, and give him a friendly embrace. He returned seemingly much affected with the tender reception he had found, and the melting farewell at parting. Some of the circumstances we fancied were of his own invention, as they were quite unsuitable with the gallant spirit of that haughty officer, whose genius and disposition were formed to command, but never could descend to cringe or wheedle. To hear Bulkeley’s moving account you would have thought he was painting the last separation of David and Jonathan.”

  34 This was written before Captain Cheap had arrived home. Bulkeley did indeed meet Cheap face-to-face at the court-martial four and a half years later.

  35 There is a certain irony in the choice of this name. The Speedwell, Captain Shelvocke, had been wrecked on the island of Juan Fernandez in 1720. Captain Shelvocke built a schooner out of her timbers, and after cruising off the coast for a while captured a Spanish ship. This is of course was what Captain Cheap had been planning to do.

  36 200 yards.

  37 Bulkeley has been following Sir John Narborough’s Journal, which is very clear about approaching the Straits from the west: “The best landfall in my opinion, is to make the face of Cape Deseada for to come out of the South Sea to go into the Streights of Magellan; they lie in East and West at the first, till you come abreast of Cape Pillar; then the course is South East and by East nearest. Be careful to keep the South shore in fair view, for the North shore is broken islands and sounds, that a man may mistake the right Channel or Streight, and steer up into one of them, as he comes out of the South Sea, if he lose sight of the South shore.”

  38 Navigational observations.

  39 It seems possible that Bulkeley had made off with the Captain’s copy of this vital book, Sir John Narborough’s Voyage. Perhaps, to be generous, he had copied out the relevant directions, but he never states this although it would be somewhat to his credit as a prudent seaman.

  40 See chart p112.

  41 Probably of a Privateer.

  42 Turned down wind to spill the wind from the sail. Normally this would be an easy manoeuvre, but clearly something went disastrously wrong.

  43 For Midshipman Morris’s version of why he and seven others were abandoned, see p127.

  44 The Spaniards.

  45 This was the Spanish ship Guipuscoa, 74, of Pizarro’s squadron. In fact her ship’s company had mutinied and driven the ship ashore. See footnote on p153.

  46 Chief.

  47 Musket.

  48 Spies.

  49 One of them soon after died in hospital, making the number of Speedwell survivors 29.

  50 Annual convoy with supplies.

  51 Fifty-nine originally, and 72 after the cutter was lost.

  52 That is, with four inches of gunnel.

  53 That is, lining up standing along the side of the boat.

  54 Young writes of this gentleman: “All this was agreeable to the noble disposition of the Spanish nation, which, though with a full measure of pride, yields to no other on earth for magnanimity or generosity of temper.”

  55 Now Salvador, Brazil.

  56 A coin of small value.

  57 HMS Advice.

  58 If Bulkeley and the others had waited a little longer in Rio Janeiro they would have got home sooner.

  59 Our Lady of a Peaceful Death. Young writes: “Our deliverances were by the Captain and the whole crew most devoutly ascribed to a she-saint whose name I have forgotten.”

  60 Gold coins, valued then at 27s.

  61 Meeting-place for the conduct of business.

  62 Navigational observations.

  63 The Admiralty relented on this later.

  64 “E.B.” has not been identified, but it is not Baynes.

  Part 3

  Isaac Morris’s Story

  Chapter 12

  The Misfortunes of Eight Castaways

  Argentine Patagonia, 10th January 1742. Midshipman Morris from Topsham in Devon describes with bitterness being one of eight men of the long-boat’s company to be cast away on an uninhabited coast south of Buenos Aires. They make ingenious efforts to subsist. Two attempts to reach the River Plate fail; and winter approaches. His account starts while he is still in the long-boat.

  From Midshipman Morris’s account

  After having being fourteen days without sight of land and almost destitute of provisions, we were blessed with the agreeable prospect of it distant about seven leagues. We stood in directly for it, and came to an anchor in eight fathom water. At five next morning we weighed, and steered NE by E about a mile from the shore, where we saw a great many wild horses and some dogs. At noon we had a good observation and found ourselves in 38:40 S. We sounded and had but two fathom and a half at high water, a shoal of sand running out to the SE four or five leagues, which when we got clear of we steered NE into a large sandy bay, and anchored in three fathom and a half.

  On 12th January our provisions being quite done, and only one cask of water remaining, we ran as near in to the shore as we could with safety, and fourteen of the healthiest of us agreed to swim ashore in order to try for provisions. I was of the number, and we all landed safe except one of the marines, who became quite spent and was drowned within three fathom of the beach, and none of us near enough to assist him. We had four casks thrown overboard after us in order to be filled with fresh water, if we should be so happy as to find any; and to them were lashed some muskets with ammunition. After we had walked about a mile in from the beach we saw a great number of wild horses
and dogs; the horses were of a small size, but the dogs a large mongrel breed. There were flocks of parrots about the rocks, and near the water-side a few seal. We likewise met with a good spring of fresh water, rising from a trench not far from the shore. We shot a wild horse and some seal, and filled three casks with fresh water, which were next morning towed aboard by five of those who swam ashore. Soon after this, the sea-breeze blowing strong, the long-boat stood farther off to sea.

  On the 14th January the wind blew fresh at ESE, and we saw our vessel stretching farther off. Soon afterwards we received, in a scuttled cask, a few necessaries, with ammunition, and a letter to acquaint us of the risk which they should run in lying near the shore, and that they were obliged to stand farther off for their own safety, till the weather should be more favourable.