A thrilling account of a shipwreck in the Pacific in 1741
“The Wager” may be David Grann’s best book yet
A largely forgotten chapter of a little-remembered war between England and Spain provides the setting for this gripping study of human nature in extremis. Wager, a British frigate, crashed onto rocks off the coast of Patagonia while pursuing the enemy into the Pacific in 1741. The seas in that remote part of the world are infamous. “Below forty degrees latitude, there is no law,” went a sailors’ adage. “Below fifty degrees, there is no God.”
This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “High and dry”
Culture April 15th 2023
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- A thrilling account of a shipwreck in the Pacific in 1741
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