And the war was called the War of Jenkins' Ear, and we can leave that to readers to find out why it had that name.

Well, David Grann, welcome back to FRESH AIR.ĭAVID GRANN: Oh, it's so great to be back on the program.īRIGER: So your book takes place in the 1740s when the British Empire went to war against its rival, imperial Spain. David Grann writes about this harrowing journey in his new book, 'The Wager: A Tale Of Shipwreck, Mutiny, And Murder.' The leaders of the mutineers and the captain were reunited in England at a court martial hearing to decide whether they were guilty of the crimes of mutiny and murder. Miraculously, the captain survived as well. They sailed nearly 3,000 miles to rescue in Brazil, but only 29 of the 81 survived the journey. Eventually, the majority of the men mutinied and sailed away on a makeshift craft, leaving behind their captain and a small band loyal to him. And the captain lost the respect of his crew, especially after killing one of the sailors by shooting him. But that unraveled under the hardships they endured, including poor shelter, punishing weather and starvation. One man-of-war called the Wager went missing and wrecked upon the rocks of a desolate island off Patagonia.Īt first, the castaways maintained the naval laws and discipline of the British Empire under their captain.

In the mid-18th century, a squadron of British warships made the journey through the passage in the worst weather imaginable, suffering terrible damage to their ships. SAM BRIGER, BYLINE: At the bottom of the world, below the tip of South America, the Atlantic and Pacific oceans converge to form one of the most dangerous places to find yourself in a boat - the Drake Passage. Our producer Sam Briger spoke with David Grann yesterday. An earlier Grann book, 'The Lost City Of Z,' was also adapted into a film. Scorsese already adapted Grann's book 'Killers Of The Flower Moon' into a film that will be released later this year. Martin Scorsese already has plans to adapt it into a film. It's about a shipwreck and mutiny in the 1700s. Grann has a knack for finding little known stories from history and turning them into books that are page turners. Our guest today is bestselling author and New Yorker magazine staff writer David Grann.

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