The Wager: A Tale Of Shipwreck, Mutiny And Murder Quotes
"Whether through destiny or dumb luck—it drifted into an inlet."
"Their faces were enveloped in hair, tangled and salted like seaweed."
"They were hailed for their ingenuity and bravery."
"We all impose some coherence—some meaning—on the chaotic events of our existence."
"If they failed to provide a convincing tale, they could be secured to a ship’s yardarm and hanged."
"Each man carried, along with a sea chest, his own burdensome story."
"The conflict was the result of the endless jockeying among the European powers to expand their empires."
"Whosoever commands the seas commands the trade of the world."
"No man will be a sailor who has contrivance enough to get himself into a jail."
"The ship was a set of human machinery, in which every man is a wheel, a band, or a crank."
"The life of a sailor is a journey into the unknown."
"A ship at sea is a small world within itself."
"A man-of-war may justly be styled an epitome of the world."
"In the fury of combat, with cannonballs and grapeshot flying, the decks shuddered as if the sea were boiling."
"The sea was so crimson it looked like blood."
"Sailors' tales pulsed with life, the life that had escaped death before and might escape it again."
"In a ship, there is always an empty berth in the forecastle, and one man wanting when the small night watch is mustered."
"In the time-honoured English fashion, the experts were kept in their place."
"To find oneself in a ship at sea is to embark on a journey both physical and metaphorical."
"Three sailors died that day, casting a pall over the occasion."
"These creatures being extremely troublesome."
"I cannot live long. I hope I have made my peace with God."
"No person in or belonging to the fleet shall utter any words of sedition or mutiny…upon pain of death."
"The land sometimes would appear of a prodigious height with huge broken mountains."
"It is incredible the number of whales that are here."
"In this dreadful situation, we lay for some little time, every soul on board looking upon the present minute as his last."
"No poet wept him; but the page of narrative sincere."
"The very sea is found to be almost as barren as the land."
"How many people have I hurt with my indifference, my grouchiness, my overbearing perversion for food?"
"My first care was to securing a good quantity of arms, ammunition and some provisions."
"The difficulties we had to encounter in these visits to the wreck cannot be easily described."
"In our situation, [nails] were of infinite service."
"They were so cautious of anything being embezzled that they would not suffer the boats to go off and work by night."
"This poor stuff even the Captain was forced to content himself with!"
"Not a little astonished to see, by the glimmer of the fire, a large beast standing over him."
"We need not fear taking prizes, and may have a chance to see the Commodore."
"Desperate diseases demand desperate remedies."
"I endeavoured…to bring them to reason and a sense of their duty."
"The Captain showed all the conduct and courage imaginable."
"You must excuse my not pulling my hat off, my hands are confined."
"Our flour was to be lengthened out by a mixture of seaweed."
"I’d rather be shot than carried off a prisoner."
"The worst jail in England is a palace to our present situation."
"He knew that each of them was about to face another agonizing ordeal."
"We are still unfortunate, destitute of employment, almost without support."
"We call this harbour the Port of God’s Mercy."
"It is with much entreaty that any of them can be prevailed on to come upon deck to assist for their preservation."
"We had the example of a brave, humane, equal-minded, prudent commander."
"We are ready enough likewise to blame the crew of the Wager, and defend the Captain."
"They were surprised that thirty souls, the number of people now living, could be stowed in so small a vessel."
"How dare you presume to touch a gentleman’s character in so public a manner?"
"Persons with a common share of understanding are capable of committing to paper daily remarks of matters worthy their observation."
"Our confining the Captain is reckoned an audacious and unprecedented action."
"It was a pleasure for them to relate their story."
"After all the fatigue and hazard I have undergone in endeavouring to serve it, if I thought I had forfeited…the esteem of the public."
"They were looking upon us as sons, husbands, and fathers restored to them in a miraculous manner."
"Every man was ready to assist, and everyone thought the thing could not be well done without his having a hand in it."
"It is almost impossible to describe the sorrow and anguish that possessed us."
"There ran a most dreadful hollow sea, dangerous, indeed, for any open boat."
"Byron frantically bailed, while Cheap mumbled into the wind."
"I could compare his body to nothing but an anthill, with thousands of those insects crawling over it."
"His beard was as long as a hermit’s….His legs were as big as mill-posts."
"They made a bed of sheepskins close to the fire for Captain Cheap, and laid him upon it."
"I was now reduced to the infamous necessity of surrendering myself."
"The officers of the King of England could die of hunger, but they disdained to beg."
"The soldiers made a pretty penny, as they took money from every person for the sight."
"In this day’s proceedings we beheld the great and glorious power of the Almighty."
"I have nothing to say for nor against the villains, until the day of trial."
"The underlying theory was that simple mariners, having witnessed these spectacles, would be left trembling at the prospect."
"A mutiny, especially in times of war, can be so threatening to the established order that it is not even officially recognized as one."
"My study of Byron is drawn primarily from his journals; his correspondence with family and friends; his reports to the Admiralty over the years."
"Washington Irving described the Byron family estate as 'one of the finest specimens in existence of those quaint and romantic piles, half castle, half convent, which remain as monuments of the olden times of England.'"
"Pepys, in his diary, referred to the Navy as a place of 'honourable service.'"
"Frederick Chamier wrote, 'Ye gods, what wonders lie in this small word - Hope!'"
"Samuel Leech's memoirs remark, 'A man-of-war may justly be termed a floating city.'"
"Dudley Pope observed, 'The captain had a kingdom of his own, where his word was law.'"
"Samuel Leech aptly noted, 'In strength and fleetness, the British navy was like the eagle among birds.'"
"John Nichols commented on Byron's character as 'rather a puny fellow, but of a brave and gallant spirit.'"
"In 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,' Coleridge wrote, 'Instead of the cross, the Albatross about my neck was hung.'"
"Thomas à Kempis, in his 'Imitation of Christ,' wisely stated, 'It is a mistaken notion to seek honor from men.'"
"A mutiny is the most contemptible thing that can be carried out by men who are bound by their honor and their oath to obey." - Elihu Rose, "The Anatomy of Mutiny," Armed Forces & Society, 561.
"We imagined ourselves already in the hands of the enemy and considered all the miseries we were to undergo." - Bulkeley and Cummins, A Voyage to the South Seas, 61.
"For England to live without liberty is to live without life." - Bulkeley and Cummins, A Voyage to the South Seas, 51–52.
"I sat down, the most disconsolate creature in the world." - Byron, The Narrative of the Honourable John Byron, 111.
"We now looked upon ourselves as freemen and were all perfectly satisfied with our situation." - Campbell, The Sequel to Bulkeley and Cummins’s "Voyage to the South Seas," 26.
"the good of the community is the supreme law." - Bulkeley and Cummins, A Voyage to the South Seas, 67.
"It is enough to have deceived me once; I shall be on my guard in the future." - Bulkeley and Cummins, A Voyage to the South Seas, 98.
"the day of retribution is at hand." - Bulkeley and Cummins, A Voyage to the South Seas, 120.
"They made a desert and called it peace." - Byron, The Narrative of the Honourable John Byron, 176.
"We are ready to hazard all in our country's cause." - The Universal Spectator, August 25 and Sept. 1, 1744.
"Adventure, nay, danger, lies in the unknown corners of the world."
"The relentless sea, indifferent to our sufferings, offers both peril and wonder."
"In the heart of nature’s fury, we find our truest selves."
"Bound by duty, yet driven by a thirst for discovery."
"Every journey is a step into the vast tapestry of history."
"Amidst chaos, there lies a beauty in the struggle for survival."
"The line between heroism and folly is often blurred on the high seas."
"Hope, that fickle siren, sings sweetest in our darkest hours."
"The true voyage of discovery lies not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes."
"In the face of adversity, the human spirit reveals its tenacity and courage."