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More than 280 years ago, 250 men would set sail aboard the HMS Wager on a doomed secret mission to capture Spanish silver and gold off the coast of South America. Shipwrecked on desolate island, eighty-one survivors set out in a makeshift boat and sailed three thousand miles to rescue.
29 survived and found they would once again be fighting for their lives facing court martial in England for what they did to stay alive. Renowned New Yorker writer David Grann sees in their experience the same debates we have today over truth, disinformation and who gets to tell their own stories. His new book is called THE WAGER: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder.
The Wager book cover Photo: supplied