The Wrecking of The Wager
As Wager, now alone, continued beating to the west, the question remained, when to turn north? Do it too early and the risk of running the ship aground was very high; something the crew were already very aware of given the previous near miss. However, the crew were severely depleted with scurvy - every day more victims were going down with the condition – and there was a shortage of seamen to handle the ship. The dilemma became contentious when Captain Cheap stated his intention to make for Socorro Island (now Guamblin Island). The gunner, John Bulkley, objected strongly to this proposal and instead argued that the secondary squadron rendezvous, the Island of Juan Fernandez, should be their primary destination since it was not as close to the mainland as Socorro and therefore less likely to result in the wrecking the ship on a lee shore. It should be noted that although Bulkley's executive responsibility was as gunner onboard Wager, an officer rank in the Navy at the time, he was undoubtedly the most capable seaman on the ship. Navigation was technically the responsibility of the master, Thomas Clark, but he, along with most of the officers on board, was held in thinly-disguised contempt by Cheap.
Bulkley repeatedly tried to persuade Cheap to change his mind, arguing that the ship was in such a poor condition that the ability to carry the required sail plans to beat off a lee-shore or come to anchor was compromised, making Cheap's decision to head for Socorro too hazardous, especially given that the whole area was poorly charted. In the event Bulkley was to prove exactly correct, but Cheap refused to change course.
On 13 May 1741, at 9 am, John Cummins, the carpenter, went forward to inspect the chain plates. Whilst there he thought he caught a fleeting glimpse of land to the west. The lieutenant, Baynes, was also there but he saw nothing, and the sighting was not reported. Baynes would be later reprimanded at a Court Martial for failing to alert the Captain. The sighting of land to the west was thought to be impossible, however Wager had actually entered a large uncharted bay, now called Golfo de Penas, and the land to the west was later to be called the Tres Montes Peninsula. At 2 pm land was positively sighted to the west and northwest and all hands were mustered to make sail and turn the ship to the southwest. During the frantic operations which followed, Cheap fell down the quarterdeck ladder and dislocated his shoulder and was confined below. There followed a night of terrible weather, with the ship in a disabled and worn-out condition, this severely hampered efforts to get her clear of the bay. At 4:30 am, the ship struck rocks repeatedly, broke her tiller, and although still afloat was partially flooded, and invalids below who were too sick to get out of their hammocks were drowned.
Bulkley and another seaman, John Jones, began steering the ship with sail alone towards land, but later in the morning the ship struck again, this time fast.
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