Wager Mutiny - Shipwrecked On Wager Island

Shipwrecked On Wager Island

Wager had struck rocks on the coast of what would subsequently be known as Wager Island. Some of the crew broke into the spirit room and got drunk, armed themselves and began looting, dressing up in officers' clothes and fighting. Aside from this, one hundred and forty other men and officers took to the boats and made it safely on shore; however, their prospects were now desperate. They were shipwrecked far into the southern latitudes at the start of winter with little food in an uncharted and desolate land with hardly any natural resources to sustain them. In addition to this, the crew were dangerously divided, with many of them blaming the captain for their predicament. On the following day, Friday 15 May, the ship bilged amidships and many of the drunken crew still on board drowned. The only members of the crew now left on board Wager were the boatswain, John King, and a few of his followers. King was a rebellious character, and, as events would prove, an extremely dangerous and difficult individual.

Some of the ships additional cargo was to prove useful. The Indian trading goods, which mainly took the form of bolts of cloth, was used to improve improvised shelters. The other trinkets were largely useless, as were the small arms and ammunition and powder as there were no enemies and little wildlife to use them against. The large quantity of extra rum was to prove very troublesome however as it meant many of the crew were perpetually drunk and very difficult to control.