The Wager Disaster
Page 27
We felt strongly that we wanted to assist the Chileans in any way we could with their research. Having arranged for them to join us aboard the Chilean Navy vessel coming to collect us, we set off on daily missions to search for signs of the Spanish camp, or the actual site of the wreck, whilst Diego and his team made detailed studies of the wreckage. This should have been a period of two or three days, but again the weather turned and we were pinned down by a ferocious storm that prevented even the Navy from reaching the island. After four unplanned extra days in the wet, food was scarce and we were all delighted and relieved to see the patrol vessel in the inlet between the Islands of Wager and Byron.
During these final days Diego and his team were able to make detailed studies of the area where the wreckage was found, and we were able to locate what we believe to be the site of a large encampment.
After nearly a month on the island we had not only found what we believed to be part of the famous Wager, but had also learnt about her amazing after-story. We embarked in the Chilean patrol vessel and, as Cheap’s Bay and Mount Misery disappeared into the distance, we all felt a sense of achievement and, I think, not a small amount of sadness to be leaving a very special place.
Everyone’s hope, on both sides of the Atlantic, is that this unique piece of our shared heritage should be investigated as completely as possible,[2] and that the amazing story of HMS Wager should be available for future generations to appreciate. All of the team from the SES expedition feel proud of what we managed to achieve, but most of all we have been touched by a remarkable story and an amazing island called Wager.
1 Linie is a Norwegian aquavit that has been shipped to Australia and back, thereby crossing the equator or “linie” twice.
2 Since the discovery of these remains, the wood has been identified as of European origin, with a radiocarbon date consistent with the construction of the Wager in 1734. Other discoveries have included ceramics, glass, barrel staves, iron bolts and musket balls of calibre 0.68 as used in English muskets of the time.
Appendix A
Wager’s Boats
Wager’s boats and their various capacities are an important part of the story. In the following table I have estimated sizes and carrying capacities from W. E. May’s The Boats of Men of War (1974), from the National Maritime Museum’s collection of ship models, and by various indications in the accounts of survivors. David Joel’s excellent Charles Brooking (2000) is also very informative about boats of that era, as Brooking never got this sort of detail wrong.
Although the Admiralty made many attempts over the years to standardise boats carried in ships, in 1740 there was still such a wide variation that there has necessarily been a certain amount of guesswork and extrapolation in this table.
Name of boat
Length in feet
Max. number of men
Her fate
Long-boat
36
?35
Sawn in half by Carpenter Cummins and lengthened.
Long-boat after lengthening
48
59
Epic voyage of 2500 miles to Rio Grande. 29 survivors. Probably then sold for a pittance to provide passage money for survivors.
Cutter
25
12
Lost with 11 men on Patagonian coast in vicinity of Isla Duque de York.
Barge
24
10 (12 in extremis)
Taken by 6 deserters who absconded in Golfo San Esteban. Presumed lost.
Yawl
18
7
Sunk in Golfo de Peñas. One survivor.
Appendix B
The Authorship of the Indian Insurrection Account
Morris’s account of the Indian insurrection aboard the Asia is a close copy of a description of the same event in Anson’s Voyage, and indeed he acknowledges the source and puts the extract in quotation marks. At first sight it seems surprising that Morris, who was present, should quote the author of Anson’s Voyage (Walter or Robins) who was not.
Morris and Campbell came home during the period April to June 1746. Campbell’s self-serving book, with his version of the insurrection, came out in 1747, but was quickly withdrawn from the bookshops and suppressed, presumably under threat of libel from Captain Cheap, or possibly because Campbell was already being recognized as a traitor.
Anson’s long-awaited Voyage was published in 1748. While ignoring Campbell’s version of events, it was careful to say that the account of the Indian insurrection was “taken from the mouth of an English gentleman” who was present. It seems highly likely that the gentleman referred to is Morris, and since he had published nothing at that date it must be that he had described the incident to Walter or Robins, probably Robins, who then wrote the graphic account quoted here.
When Morris came to publish his own book three years later, it would then have been natural in those copyright-free days for him to consider that he had every right to use the Voyage account, as it had been based entirely on his own description.
Whenever Morris and Campbell disagree, Morris, a modest and thoughtful man with no axe to grind, seems the more reliable.
Appendix C
Prize Money
HMS Lark (Captain David Cheap) and HMS Gloucester (Captain Charles Saunders) captured the Spanish ship Port de Nantez off Madeira on Christmas Day 1746. The 105 chests of silver and a mixed cargo were officially valued at £300,000. This was called “Bounty Money”, and would have been allocated by law as follows:
1. Bounty money to be divided in 8 parts.
2. Captain to have three parts (but if under command of a Flag Officer, to give Flag Officer one part of this).
3. Lieutenants, Captain of Marines if borne, Master – one part divided equally.
4. Boatswain, Gunner, Purser, Carpenter, Master’s Mate, Surgeon and Chaplain – one part divided equally.
5. Midshipmen, Carpenter’s Mates, Surgeon’s Mates, Coxswain, Quartermaster, Master at Arms, Corporals – one part divided equally.
6. Able Seamen, Ordinary Seamen, Stewards, Cooks, Armourer, Gunsmith, Cooper, Swabber, Barber, Soldiers – two parts divided equally.
Cheap and Saunders therefore, on an independent cruise with no Flag Officer present, shared 3/8ths of £300,000, or £56,000 each.
It is difficult to relate this to modern money, but I have tried two methods of doing so. First, taking the inflation tables of the Composite Price Index, the multiplier from 1750 (when the tables start) to 2012 is 193. Cheap’s £56,000 in 1746 therefore would equate to nearly £11 million today.
Secondly, £56,000 can be related to the naval pay of a junior captain in 1746, which was £142 per annum. This amount of prize money therefore made Cheap richer by 394 years of naval pay. Applying this principle to the 2012 pay of a Commander on promotion gives an equivalent in today’s money of £27 million.
These two calculations are far apart, but however one looks at it the Captain of the Lark had a handsome Christmas present and was now a rich man.
Appendix D
Castaway Small-Boat Voyages
The table overleaf of castaway small-boat voyages has been compiled in an attempt to compare Bulkeley’s achievement in the Speedwell with others’ since. The list omits purely drift-survival situations, of which there have been many amazing ones in all ages: for example, Steven Callahan’s solo 1800-mile journey in a life-raft in 1982, the Baileys in 1973, Poon Lim in 1942, and the appalling Medusa saga of 1816. It also omits non-castaway voyages: for example, Captain Slocum’s unique feats of navigation, seamanship, and boat-building with the Spray and the Liberdade, which were premeditated, adequately stored, and supported by friendly assistance at many ports. Dr Alain Bombard is in a class of his own, but hardly merits inclusion for some of the same reasons.
There are so many factors of differing importance in castaway voyages that there has to be a good deal of subjective judgement in any attempt to evaluate them.
There is a second-ha
nd account in William Travis’s Beyond the Reefs (1959) of a voyage by an American named Rowe who was wrecked on an uninhabited island in the Chagos archipelago in 1951. He is said to have built an eight-foot sailing boat out of boxwood with no nails or cordage and sailed and paddled 1200 miles to Alphonse Island in the Seychelles. I have been unable to find any confirmation of this extraordinary story, but if authentic it would certainly merit inclusion here.
Bibliography and Sources
ANON. A Voyage to the South Seas, 1745. Mostly recycled Bulkeley.
ANON. Loss of the Wager Man of War, One of Commodore Anson’s Squadron… Printed for Thomas Tegg, London 1809. Mostly recycled Byron.
ANSON, George. A Voyage Round the World in the Years MDCCXL, I, II, III, IV by George Anson Esq; Commander in Chief of a Squadron of his Majesty’s Ships, sent upon an Expedition to the South-Seas…Compiled… and published under his direction, by Richard Walter, M.A., Chaplain of his Majesty’s Ship the Centurion… London, 1748. There has been much discussion about the true authorship of this book, and Professor Williams has shown that Benjamin Robins is likely to have written more than Walter.
BARROW, Sir John. The Life of George Lord Anson, 1839.
BULKELEY, John. A Voyage to the South-Seas in the Years 1740-1.
Containing a faithful Narrative of the Loss of his Majesty’s Ship the Wager… By John Bulkeley and John Cummins, Late Gunner and Carpenter of the Wager… The whole compiled by Persons concerned in the Facts related. London, 1743.
– First American Edition with Additions, Philadelphia, 1757.
BYRON, John. The Narrative of the honourable John Byron …containing an Account of the Great Distresses suffered by himself and His Companions on the Coast of Patagonia… London, 1768.
CAMPBELL, Alexander. The Sequel to Bulkeley and Cummins’s Voyage to the South-Seas, or the Adventures of Captain Cheap etc…by Alexander Campbell, late Midshipman of the Wager, London, 1747. Suppressed soon after publication under threat of libel; only a handful of copies are known to exist.
CARABIAS AMOR, Diego. Encuentro de Dos Mundos, 2009
CHARNOCK, John. Biographia Navalis, 1797.
CHEAP, David. Letter to Richard Lindsey in the Joseph Spence papers, James Marshall and Marie-Louise Osborn Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Not published.
– Letters to the Secretary to the Admiralty, Public Records Office, Kew, ref. ADM 1/1602, ADM 1/1603. Not published in full.
– Letter to Rear Admiral Sir George Anson. Ibid. Not published in full.
EDWARDS, Philip. The Story of the Voyage – Sea Narratives of Eighteenth-Century England, 1994.
FITZROY, Captain Robert. Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty’s Ships Adventure and Beagle 1826-1836… 1839. The part that concerns this story was edited by Fitzroy but written by others.
HARLAND, John. Seamanship in the Age of Sail, 1984
JOEL, David. Charles Brooking, 2000. This book is informative about boats of this period.
MAY, W.E. The Boats of Men of War, 1974.
MILLER, David. The Wreck of the Isabella, 1995
MORRIS, Isaac. A Faithful Narrative of the Dangers and Distresses that befell Isaac Morris, late Midshipman of the Wager, and Seven more of the Crew… Not dated, but almost certainly 1751.
NAISH, G.P.B. National Maritime Museum’s Book of Ship Models, 1953.
OXFORD DICTIONARY OF NATIONAL BIOGRAPHY, 2004 Edition.
PACK, S.W.C. The Wager Mutiny, 1964.
RODGER, N.A.M. The Wooden World, 1986.
SHANKLAND, Peter. Byron of the Wager, 1975.
SLOCUM, Victor. Castaway Boats, 1938.
SOMERVILLE, Vice Admiral Boyle. Commodore Anson’s Voyage into the South Seas and around the World, 1934.
WALKER, Violet W. The House of Byron, 1988.
WILLIAMS, Glyn. The Prize of All the Oceans, 1999.
YOUNG, John. An affecting Narrative of the Unfortunate Voyage and Catastrophe of his Majesty’s Ship Wager, one of Commodore Anson’s Squadron in the South Sea Expedition.. London, 1751. Published anonymously; the author can only be John Young the Cooper, although this has been disputed. Possibly some parts were ghosted.
Image Credits
The author and publisher gratefully acknowledge the permission granted to reproduce the copyright material in this book. Every effort has been made to establish all copyright holders, but should there be any errors or omissions, the publisher would be pleased to insert the appropriate acknowledgement in any subsequent printing of this publication.
Please note that the pages in this guide refer to the original page on which these images appeared in the print edition of this title.
Front cover: reproduced with kind permission of Commander David Joel
Back cover: reproduced with kind permission of Sir William Molesworth-St. Aubyn
Front inside cover: reproduced with kind permission of Geoff Hunt
Back inside cover: reproduced with kind permission of Anthony Terry
Cannon (p18) reproduced with kind permission of Anthony Terry
Press Gang (p30) image courtesy of Bridgeman Art Library
Dockyards (p33) artist unknown
Sir Charles Wager (p35) artist unknown
Deserters document (p37) National Archives, London; photo: Felicity Price-Smith
Memorial (p38) C.H. Layman
Books (p40) collection: Colin Paul; photo: Michael Blyth
20th December engraving (p44) collection: Colin Paul; photo: Michael Blyth
7th March engraving (p45 top) collection: Colin Paul; photo: Michael Blyth
Wager sketch (p45 bottom) collection: Colin Paul; photo: C.H. Layman
Anson’s Route map (p46) collection: Colin Paul; photo: Michael Blyth
Rounding Cape Horn chart (p47) collection: Colin Paul; photo: Michael Blyth
Wager Embayed chart (p49) Felicity Price-Smith
HMS Wager in Extremis (p51) reproduced with kind permission of Commander
David Joel; photo: Dave Thompson
The Wreck of HMS Wager (p54) reproduced with kind permission of Commander David Joel; photo: Dave Thompson
Frontispiece (p56) collection: Colin Paul; photo: Michael Blyth
Loss of the Wager engraving (p59) collection: Colin Paul; photo: Michael Blyth
A critical moment (p68) collection: Colin Paul; photo: Michael Blyth
Bulkeley’s journey map (p112) Felicity Price-Smith
Discharged Dead document (p124) National Archives, London; photo: Felicity Price-Smith
Routes across South America map (p161) Felicity Price-Smith
Bay of Sorrows chart (p186) Felicity Price-Smith
Rio San Taddeo (p198) Google: Map data ©2014 Google, Inav/Geosistemas SRL, Mapcity
Route through the Fjord (p201) Google: Map data ©2014 Google, Inav/Geosistemas SRL, Mapcity
Glaciers (p202) Shirley Critchley
Byron’s musket engraving (p204) collection: Colin Paul; photo: Michael Blyth
Soho Square (p220) collection: Amanda Barker-Mill; photo: Felicity Price-Smith
Muster book extract (p224) National Archives, London; photo: Felicity Price-Smith
Bulkeley title page (p226) collection: Colin Paul; photo: Michael Blyth
South America map (p232) reproduced with kind permission of Anthony Terry
Court-Martial document (p236) National Archives, London; photo: Felicity Price-Smith
Spanish chart (p238) reproduced with kind permission of Anthony Terry
Captain David Cheap (p257) reproduced with kind permission of the Strathtyrum Trust; photo: C.H. Layman
Foulweather Jack (p260) reproduced with kind permission of the 13th Lord Byron; photo: C.H. Layman
Saunders Island settlement (p262) C.H. Layman
Bryon title page (p264 left), collection: C.H. Layman; photo: Michael Blyth
Sophia’s tribute (p264 right), collection: C.H. Layman; photo: Felicity Price-Smith
Bay of Sorrows m
ap (p276) reproduced from an original in the collections of the Geography & Map Division, Library of Congress
Cannon (p278) reproduced with kind permission of Anthony Terry
Figure 1 (p283) Chris Holt
Wager Quest Team (p283) Chris Holt
Tortel walkways (p286) Shirley Critchley
Figure 2 (p295) Chris Holt
Figure 3 (p297 top) Chris Holt
Cheap’s Bay (p297 bottom) David Carson
Wager Quest camp 2 (p299) Mike Smeaton
HMS Wager wreck (p302) Chris Holt
Divers (p304 top) Chris Holt
Sketch (p304 bottom) Chris Holt
Wooden wreckage (p305 top) David Carson
Wooden wreckage p305 centre) Chris Hunter
Wooden wreckage p305 bottom) Chris Hunter
Musket ball (p306) Chris Holt
Glossary
Terms which are used once only and explained in a footnote are not repeated here.
Athwart, athwartships – at right angles to the fore-and-aft line.
Back and fill – to brace the yards so that the wind blows on the forward part of the sail.
Bale goods – cargo in bales.
Barge – see Appendix A.
Beam-ends – a ship on her beam ends is heeled over till her deck beams are nearly vertical.
Bend – to join two ropes together, or tie a cable to an anchor.
Bilged – a ship is said to be bilged when she is holed in her lowest part.
Boats – see appendix A.
Bower anchor – the largest anchor carried in a ship. The best bower is the one on the starboard side.
Bowsprit – the spar that extends over the bows to take forestays and jibs.