Wager Mutiny

Wager Mutiny"The subsequent mutiny of the crew of HMS Wager after it was wrecked on a desolate island off the west coast of Chile in 1741.

HMS Wager was a 6th rate Royal Navy sailing ship of 28 guns, previously an East Indiaman and purchased by the Admiralty in 1739 to form part of the squadron of George Anson.

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The Wager

The Wager ship was originally a East India Company ship, an armed trading vessel built mainly to accommodate large cargoes of goods from the far east, but also to be capable of carrying significant firepower for self protection on the open seas. The vessel was bought by the Admiralty in 1739 to form part of a squadron under Commodore George Anson to attack spanish interests on the Pacific west coast of South America, and carried additional stores of small-arms, ball and powder to arm shore raiding parties.

Commodore Ansons Squadron

The total squadron consisted of some 1980 men, of which only 188 would survive a voyage which was to prove one of the most terrifying, challenging, heroic and adventurous circumnavigations of the globe ever completed. The squadron, including the Wager, consisted of six warships and two victuallers (supply ships):

1. Flagship, Centurion (60 guns), 400 men, Commodore Anson
2. Gloucester (50 guns) 300 men, Captain Richard Norris
3. Severn (50 guns), 300 men, Captain Edward Legg
4. Pearl (40 guns), 250 men, Captain Matthew Mitchel
5. Wager (28 guns), 160 men, Captain Dandy Kidd
6. Tryal sloop (8 guns)s, 100 men. Captain Jolm Murray

Two victuallers (pinks) called Anna and Industry also sailed, one of 400, and the other of 200 tons. The squadron also included 470 men which consisted of invalids and wounded soldiers from Chelsea hospital, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Cracherode. The inclusion of these men instead of regular troops was a particularly cruel and stupid move, effectively most were condemned to die during the hardships of the voyage. The Wager carried the largest number of invalids and marines, 142, outnumbering the crew of 106.

Spithead to Staten Island

Progress of the squadron to the Staten Island on the Atlantic side of Cape Horn was only remarkable for the time that was taken to reach Funchal, this was seen as simply an inconvienience at the time, but this delay, coupled with the impressment of many sailors back in England who had recently been at sea for some time and had not fully restored their bodies to a fresh food diet, and the high contingent of invalids, the crew of Anson's squadron was a ticking time bomb for scurvey, which was about to break out with devastating effects.
On Wager, Captain Dandy Kidd died before reaching the straits of Staten Island, horrifying the officers and crew on his death-bed by predicting success and riches for some on the mission, but only death and devastating hardship for the crew of his vessel. For the notoriously superstitious sailors on board the Wager, this was awful news to hear, and as was to turn out, an accurate prophecy.
Kidd was replaced by Captain David Cheap, who had started the cruise as a lieutenant, a man unused to the ultimate command of a ship, new to a disspirited crew; who compounded these handicaps by holding many of the officers in contempt of their technical abilities. In Cheaps favour, he was to display unstinting determination to carry out his mission, which was to make the rendevous with the squadron at the island of Sirocco at all costs (the Wager had a store of arms and ammunition the squadron would draw upon to attack shore bases along the west coast of Chile).

The Rounding of the Horn

The delays of the voyage were most keenly felt when the squadron rounded the Horn. The weather conditions were atrocious, high sea states and contrary winds meant that progress west was very slow. Added to this was the deteriorating health of the crew with scurvy, meaning that few able bodied seamen were available to work the ship and carry out running repairs to the continually battered rigging.
After many weeks working westwards to clear the horn the squadron turned north when navigational reckoning suggested enough westerly had been made. At this time longitudinal navigation was relatively easy with the use of a sextant, however latitude was much harder to predict as accurate time-pieces were required, or a good view of the stars on stable ground, none of which were available to the squadron. Latitude was predicted by 'dead-reckoning' (guessed), an impossible task given the conditions and time involved, so the intention was to only turn north when they were reasonably 'certain' that the Horn had been cleared. The result was nearly a complete disaster. In the middle of the night, the moon shone through the cloud for a few minutes which showed waves breaking on the Patagonian coastline. Without this sighting the whole of Anson's squadron would have been wrecked, almost certainly with all hands perishing.
After this severe disappointment, the ships turned around and headed south again into huge seas and foul wind. During one particularly severe night, the Wager became separated from the rest of the squadron, and would never see it again.

The wrecking of the Wager

As the Wager, now on her own, continued beating to the west, the central question was when to turn north. Do it too early and the risk of running the ship ashore was very high - something that the crew were already very aware off given the near miss previously when sailing with the squadron. However, the crew were severely depleted with scurvy, every day more victims were going down with the disease and there was a shortage of seamen to handle the ship. The question of when to turn north became contentious when Captain Cheap stated his intention to make for the Island of Sirocco. The Gunner, John Bulkley objected strongly to this proposal and instead argued that the secondary rendezvous, the Island of Juan Fernandez should be their destination since it was not as close to the coast as Sirocco and therefore less likely to result in wrecking the ship on a lee shore. It should be noted that although Bulkley's executive responsibility was as Gunner onboard the Wager, an officer rank in the Navy at the time, he was undoubtedly the most capable seaman on the ship. Navigation was technically the responsibility of the 'Master', Thomas Clark, however he, along with most of the officers on board was held in thinly disguised contempt by Cheap.

Bulkley tried to persuade Cheap to change course, arguing that the ship was in such a poor condition that the ability to carry the required sail plans to beat off a lee-shore or come to anchor was compromised therefore making his decision to head for Sirocco very dangerous, especially as the land was poorly charted. In the event Bulkley was to prove exactly right, but Cheap refused to change course.

On 13 May 1741, at nine in the morning, John Cummins, the carpenter, went forward to inspect the chain plates. Whilst there he thought he caught a fleeting glimpse of land to the west. The lieutenant, Baynes, was also there but didn't see anything, so the sighting was not reported. At the time, sighting land to the west was thought to be impossible, however the Wager had entered a large uncharted bay, and the land to the west was later to be called Peninsula Tres Montes. Bulkleys prediction was coming true. At two in the afternoon land was positively sighted to the west and northwest and all hands were mustered to make sail and turn the ship to the southwest. During the frantic operations which followed, Cheap fell down the quarterdeck ladder and dislocated his shoulder, and was confined below. There followed a night of terrible weather and the ship was in a disabled and worn-out condition, severely hampering efforts to get clear of the bay. At four thirty am, the ship struck rocks repeatedly, broke its tiller, and although still afloat was partially flooded, which drowned invalids below who were too sick to get out of their hammocks.

Bulkley and another seaman began steering the ship with sail alone towards land, but later in the morning the ship struck again and this time was bilged on rocks. It was the end for the Wager.

Shipwrecked on Wager Island

Mutiny

The Voyage of the Speedwell

Captain Cheaps Group

Bulkley & the Speedwell survivors return to England

The Survivors of Captain Cheaps group return to England

The Survivors of Speedwell group abandoned by Bulkley return to England

Court Martial into the loss of the ship and aftermath

See also

References