Culture | Horror on the high seas

A thrilling account of a shipwreck in the Pacific in 1741

“The Wager” may be David Grann’s best book yet

Vintage engraving showing a scene from Wreak of HMS Wager. The wreck of the Wager became famous for the subsequent adventures of the survivors who found themselves marooned on a desolate island in the middle of a Patagonian winter, and in particular because of the Wager Mutiny that followed. — Image: Getty Images

Apr 13th 2023

A largely forgotten chapter of a little-remembered war between England and Spain provides the setting for this gripping study of human nature in extremis. Wager, a British frigate, crashed onto rocks off the coast of Patagonia while pursuing the enemy into the Pacific in 1741. The seas in that remote part of the world are infamous. “Below forty degrees latitude, there is no law,” went a sailors’ adage. “Below fifty degrees, there is no God.”

This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “High and dry”