Wreck, Scandal & Mutiny on HMS Wager
Dan Snow's History Hit
00:00
The Story of the Wager
HMS Wager was part of a squadron being sent on a secret mission to sail around much of the world and try to intercept a Spanish galleon. The British Navy back then did not have conscription and it was short of supplies. So they rounded up men from a retirement home, a pensioners home. Many were missing an assortment of limbs and some were so sick they had to be hoisted on stretchers onto the ship.
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