Explore the real-world places that appear in The Wager by David Grann. Each location on the map shows what happens there in the novel, the real history of the place, and what's there today. Featured locations include Portsmouth Dockyard, St Catherine's Island, Cape Horn, Gulf of Penas, Wager Island and 7 more.
Portsmouth, England — Departure of Anson's squadron
In 1740 the Wager is refitted here as part of Commodore George Anson's squadron for a secret mission against Spain. Aging ships and a crew of pressed men, invalids and Chelsea pensioners are loaded aboard. Captain Dandy Kidd takes command, and the young midshipman John Byron, the gunner John Bulkeley and the carpenter John Cummins are among those who sail. The delays and poor preparation foreshadow the disaster to come.
Portsmouth has been the Royal Navy's principal base since the 15th century. In 1740 it was the center of British naval power, and Anson's squadron sailed from nearby Spithead and St Helens in September.
Portsmouth Historic Dockyard is a major naval heritage attraction with HMS Victory, the Mary Rose Museum and HMS Warrior. It is a working naval base as well as a tourist destination.
Visit: Portsmouth Historic Dockyard (historic site)
Off Brazil's coast — Stopover on the outbound voyage
The squadron stops off the Brazilian coast to resupply before the dangerous passage around Cape Horn. Disease, particularly typhus, had already killed many aboard British ships. Men were sick and the squadron was dangerously behind schedule. The delay compounds the hardships the Wager will face on its way south.
The island, now called Santa Catarina Island, was a Portuguese colonial outpost and regular resupply stop for ships heading around South America. Anson's squadron arrived there in December 1740.
Santa Catarina Island is home to the city of Florianópolis, a popular beach and tourist destination in southern Brazil.
Visit: Florianópolis (Santa Catarina Island) (landmark)
Southern tip of South America — Storms that scattered the squadron
The squadron attempts to round the Horn in brutal winter storms. Ships are battered and scattered, men die of scurvy, and the Wager, under Captain Kidd, who dies before the wreck, struggles to keep pace. Lieutenant Baynes and others fight to keep order as the ship drifts. The ordeal sets the stage for the crew's desperate landfall.
Cape Horn has been notorious since Dutch sailors first rounded it in 1616. Its violent seas and winds claimed thousands of ships and sailors over the centuries.
Cape Horn is a Chilean national park site with a lighthouse, a chapel and the Albatross monument. It is visited by expedition cruise ships and is a famous maritime landmark.
Visit: Cape Horn National Park (monument)
Off Chilean Patagonia — Where the Wager was lost
Trying to reach the rendezvous at Socorro Island, the Wager is driven toward the lee shore. Captain Kidd falls and dislocates his shoulder, leaving command in confusion. The sick crew cannot handle the sails, and the ship is caught in a gale near the Gulf of Penas. Lieutenant Baynes and Bulkeley struggle to take control as the coast nears.
The Gulf of Penas is a treacherous, storm-lashed stretch of Chile's coast known for violent weather and shipwrecks. It lies at the mouth of the Taitao Peninsula region.
The gulf remains remote and sparsely inhabited, crossed by few vessels. It is part of the wild Patagonian coastline, accessible mainly by boat.
Off Patagonia — The wreck site
On May 14, 1741, the Wager strikes rocks and is wrecked on this desolate island. Captain David Cheap, who has lost command authority in the eyes of many, struggles to impose discipline as the men raid the ship's stores and fall into drunken disorder. Factions form around Cheap and Bulkeley, the gunner, with the carpenter Cummins also asserting himself. Starvation, murder and mutiny follow, including the killing of Midshipman Henry Cozens by Cheap.
The island lies in the Chonos Archipelago region off Chile and was named for the shipwreck. The remains of the Wager's wreck have been studied in modern times by archaeologists.
Wager Island is uninhabited and part of Chile's remote Patagonian wilderness, reachable only by expedition. It lies within the Laguna San Rafael region and is rarely visited.
Wager Island — Bulkeley's boat-building camp
Bulkeley and Cummins lead the group that decides to lengthen the Wager's longboat, renamed the Speedwell, and sail south through the Strait of Magellan to reach the Atlantic. Using salvaged timber, the carpenter and crew fashion the craft. Cheap and a few loyalists, including Byron, are left behind after the group departs. The decision to abandon the captain provokes later charges of mutiny.
The area offered shelter and scarce food such as shellfish and wild celery. Local Indigenous Kawésqar people traveled the channels by canoe.
The camp site is undeveloped and has no facilities. The surrounding channels remain a remote, difficult region.
Southern Chile — The Speedwell's perilous passage
Bulkeley's group sails the Speedwell through the Strait of Magellan, losing men to hunger and exhaustion as they forage for food on shore. Men are left behind on the coast as the boat grows ever more crowded and fragile. The voyage continues through storms for more than a hundred days as they run low on food.
The strait was discovered by Ferdinand Magellan in 1520 and was a major route between the Atlantic and Pacific before the Panama Canal. It is a difficult, windy waterway.
The strait remains an important shipping route, with Punta Arenas the main port. Cruise ships and expedition vessels pass through it.
Brazil's southern coast — Landing of the Speedwell
On January 28, 1742, the Speedwell lands on the Brazilian coast with thirty emaciated survivors, led by Bulkeley and Cummins. They are greeted as heroes by Portuguese authorities, who give them food and shelter. Their tale of shipwreck and survival is celebrated, but it will soon be challenged. Bulkeley is later arrested alongside others amid rival accounts.
Rio Grande was a Portuguese colonial settlement and port in southern Brazil, and the survivors came ashore near this region. It remains one of Brazil's oldest ports.
Rio Grande is an active port city with a historic center and nearby beaches. Its Cassino Beach is among the longest in the world.
Visit: Cassino Beach (park)
Southern Chile — Landing of Cheap, Byron and Hamilton
After many months of captivity and travel with Indigenous guides and the help of Chiloé's inhabitants, Captain Cheap, John Byron, Alexander Campbell and Surgeon Hamilton reach Spanish-held Chiloé. They are taken prisoner by the Spanish and later moved to Santiago. Their account of Bulkeley's mutiny and Cheap's own conduct sets the stage for the Admiralty's inquiry.
Chiloé was a Spanish colonial outpost, isolated from the rest of Chile and known for its distinctive wooden culture. It remained under Spanish control until 1826.
Chiloé is known for its wooden churches, some of which are UNESCO World Heritage sites, and for its seafood and folklore. Castro and Ancud are its main towns.
Visit: Churches of Chiloé (historic site)
Capital of Spanish Chile — Cheap and Byron held as prisoners
The captives are taken to Santiago, where they live as prisoners of war but are treated with some courtesy by Spanish officials. They wait for passage home as war and negotiations continue. Eventually they return to Britain, where Byron's tale and Cheap's account clash with Bulkeley's published narrative.
Santiago was founded by Pedro de Valdivia in 1541 and served as the capital of the Captaincy General of Chile. It was a modest colonial town in the 1740s.
Santiago is Chile's capital and largest city, with museums, plazas and colonial architecture. The Plaza de Armas is the historic heart of the city.
Visit: Plaza de Armas, Santiago (landmark)
London — Where the court martial was convened
Back in England, the Admiralty must determine whether Cheap, Bulkeley, Byron and the other survivors are heroes or mutineers. Competing narratives about the killing of Cozens and the abandonment of Cheap are examined. Because the Articles of War technically meant that command ended with a ship's loss, the Admiralty chose to avoid a verdict that would indict the crew. No one is punished, and the empire's image is protected.
The Admiralty building in Whitehall was the headquarters of the Royal Navy's governing board. The Admiralty Board oversaw naval discipline and courts martial in the 18th century.
The Old Admiralty Building remains part of government offices in Whitehall and is not open to the public. Nearby, the Banqueting House and Horse Guards are accessible landmarks.
Greenwich, London — Naval history and Anson's voyage
Greenwich was home to the Royal Hospital for Seamen, where veteran sailors and pensioners of the sort pressed onto the Wager might have come from. The story of the Wager belongs to the wider history of Anson's voyage and Britain's naval ambitions. Grann's account shows how the empire's strength depended on the suffering of ordinary sailors.
The Royal Hospital for Seamen was founded in 1694 and its buildings were designed by Christopher Wren. The National Maritime Museum opened in 1937 and holds major collections on naval history.
The National Maritime Museum and the Old Royal Naval College are open to visitors. The collections include artifacts, charts and paintings relating to British naval history and exploration.
Visit: National Maritime Museum (museum)
More by David Grann: The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder locations map · The Lost City of Z locations map · Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI locations map · All David Grann books