Frederick Giarrusso

The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder

by David Grann
Published in 2023

I loved this story of shipwreck and mutiny. The gripping writing makes you feel like you are actually aboard this ship, floundering in a deadly storm.

Grann tells the harrowing true story of a British naval ship wrecked off the coast of Patagonia in the 1740s. Stranded in one of the most hostile environments on earth, the surviving crew descended into starvation, violence, and mutiny as discipline collapsed. When a handful eventually made it back to England, their conflicting accounts triggered a dramatic court-martial that raised unsettling questions about leadership, loyalty, and survival at the edge of civilization.