The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder

Although The Wager focuses on shipwreck, the experiences of survivors, and the court martial in England, it illustrates several much wider historical issues. Its most important historical topic is that of imperialism and colonialism. War between the European powers was motivated by the need to control and expand colonies and “Britain’s imperial interests” (250). This incites the Wager to set sail in the first place. Additionally, imperialism inspired people like Captain David Cheap and John Byron to join the navy. Imperialism also leads the judges in the court martial case involving the survivors of the Wager to dismiss all charges.

The experience and behavior of the Wager’s survivors was an uncomfortable reminder that, in certain circumstances, “civilized” men, even naval officers, were not above violent and selfish behavior. It also brought attention to the fact that, without outside support, Europeans could be completely helpless in the very environments they sought to colonize.

The lure of the imperial, nationalist cause attracted many men, especially those from upper-class families but without any definite prospects, to become sailors. Accounts by the Wager survivors rarely, if ever, depicted their authors as operating within the imperial system. Still, “thousands and thousands of ordinary people” served or even died for “a system many of them rarely question[ed]” (248).