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The Wager : a tale of shipwreck, mutiny and murder  Cover Image Large Print Book Large Print Book

The Wager : a tale of shipwreck, mutiny and murder / David Grann.

Grann, David, (author.).

Summary:
"From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Killers of the Flower Moon and The Lost City of Z, a mesmerizing story of shipwreck, survival, and savagery, culminating in a court martial that reveals a shocking truth On January 28, 1742, a ramshackle vessel of patched-together wood and cloth washed up on the coast of Brazil. Inside were thirty emaciated men, barely alive, and they had an extraordinary tale to tell. They were survivors of His Majesty's Ship the Wager, a British vessel that had left England in 1740 on a secret mission during an imperial war with Spain. While the Wager had been chasing a Spanish treasure-filled galleon known as "the prize of all the oceans," it had wrecked on a desolate island off the coast of Patagonia. The men, after being marooned for months and facing starvation, built the flimsy craft and sailed for more than a hundred days, traversing 2500 miles of storm-wracked seas. They were greeted as heroes. But then ... six months later, another, even more decrepit craft landed on the coast of Chile. This boat contained just three castaways, and they had a very different story to tell. The thirty sailors who landed in Brazil were not heroes - they were mutineers. The first group responded with countercharges of their own, of a tyrannical and murderous captain and his henchmen. It became clear that while stranded on the island the crew had fallen into anarchy, with warring factions fighting for dominion over the barren wilderness. As accusations of treachery and murder flew, the Admiralty convened a court martial to determine who was telling the truth. The stakes were life-and-death-for whomever the court found guilty could hang. The Wager is a grand tale of human behavior at the extremes told by one of our greatest nonfiction writers. Grann's recreation of the hidden world on a British warship rivals the work of Patrick O'Brian, his portrayal of the castaways' desperate straits stands up to the classics of survival writing such as The Endurance, and his account of the court martial has the savvy of a Scott Turow thriller. As always with Grann's work, the incredible twists of the narrative hold the reader spellbound. Most powerfully, he unearths the deeper meaning of the events, showing that it was not only the Wager's captain and crew who were on trial - it was the very idea of empire"-- Provided by publisher.

Record details

  • ISBN: 9780593678251
  • ISBN: 0593678257
  • Physical Description: xv, 492 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
  • Edition: First Large Print edition.
  • Publisher: New York : Random House Large Print in association with Doubleday, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, [2023]

Content descriptions

General Note:
"Maps designed by Jeffrey L. Ward"--T.p. verso.
Bibliography, etc. Note:
Includes bibliographical references (pages [377]-467) and index.
Subject: Wager (Ship)
Shipwrecks > Patagonia (Argentina and Chile)
Shipwreck victims > Patagonia (Argentina and Chile)
Shipwreck victims > Great Britain.
Mutiny > Great Britain.
Genre: Large type books.
Large print books.
True crime stories.

Available copies

  • 9 of 20 copies available at SPARK Libraries.

Holds

  • 3 current holds with 20 total copies.
Show Only Available Copies
Location Call Number / Copy Notes Barcode Shelving Location Status Due Date
Albright Memorial Library LARGE TYPE 910.9164 GRANN (Text) 50686016302627 Adult Nonfiction Checked Out 04/02/2024
Alexander Hamilton Memorial Free Library LP 910.9 GRA (Text) 37268003163250 AHMFL Large Print Available -
Altoona Area Public Library LP 910 GRA (Text) 33240005161263 Adult Large Print Nonfiction Available -
Cambria County Library LARGE PRINT Gra (Text) 85131001870873 CACM Large Type Checked Out 04/15/2024
Dover Area Community Library Adults 910.9 GRA Large Print (Text) 34217000897918 Adult Area New Checked Out 03/29/2024
Emmaus Public Library LT 910.9164 GRAN (Text) 36446002086919 Large Print Nonfiction Available -
Exeter Community Library 910.9164 GRA (Text) 33249025534318 Large Print Non-fiction Available -
Huntingdon County Library LPF GRA (Text) 30298100617525 Large Print Fiction Checked Out 04/18/2024
Indian Valley Public Library Large Print 910.9164 Grann (Text) 39427103780516 Large Print Room: Large Print Nonfiction Checked Out 03/28/2024
Lilly Washington Public Library 910.9 G (Text) 31814800622562 LLWM Non-Fiction Available -


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