The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder

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Herman Melville's The Wager is a tale of shipwreck, mutiny and murder. In the end, despite losing the wager, the British Navy did successfully capture the Spanish ship. Today, when you look at Google Maps of the Gulf of Pain, you can see Wager Island.

There’s an old sailors’ saying about the ocean at the southernmost part of the world — “below 40 degrees latitude, there is no law; below 50 degrees, there is no God.”

David Grann brings us the story of what happened when five British warships set off on a secret mission to steal a ship filled with treasure. They’d have to sail around the very bottom of South America — at 56 degrees south.

David Grann’s book is The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder.

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Artwork by Julienne Alexander.

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