Wager Mutiny - The Rounding of The Horn

The Rounding of The Horn

The delays of the voyage were most keenly felt when the squadron rounded the Horn. The weather conditions were atrocious; high sea states and contrary winds meant that progress west was very slow. Added to this was the deteriorating health of the crew with scurvy, meaning that few able bodied seamen were available to work the ship and carry out running repairs to the continually battered rigging.

After many weeks working westwards to clear the Horn the squadron turned north when navigational reckoning suggested enough westerly had been made. At this time latitudinal determination was relatively easy with the use of a sextant, however longitudinal determination was much harder to predict as accurate time-pieces were required, or a good view of the stars on stable ground, neither of which were available to the squadron. Longitude was predicted by dead reckoning, an impossible task given the storm conditions, strong currents and length of time involved. The intention therefore was to only turn north when Anson was reasonably certain that the Horn had been cleared.

The result was nearly a complete disaster. In the middle of the night, the moon shone through the cloud for a few minutes, revealing to diligent sentinels aboard Anna towering waves breaking onto the Patagonian coastline. Anna fired guns and set up lights to warn the other ships of the danger. Without this sighting the whole of Anson's squadron would have been wrecked with the likely loss of all hands. This was a severe disappointment. The ships turned around and headed south again into huge seas and a foul wind. During one particularly severe night, Wager became separated from the rest of the squadron, and would never see it again.