When the Centurion and a squadron of six vessels and 1,959 men and boys set out from England in 1740, on a round-the-world expedition, they were unaware of the terrifying events that awaited them in the days ahead. The squadron, under the command of Commodore George Anson, had departed from England with every hope of a successful mission to harass and take prizes in the Spanish possessions of the Americas and in Asia. The journey proved more challenging than anticipated, and at times, it seemed nightmarish and beyond anything experienced by the crew. The ship survived two huge waves and a lightning strike. Then, there was the great loss of life amongst the crew who perished due to the devastating symptoms of scurvy. Despite these setbacks, there were moments of pure joy, especially when the Centurion captured the fabulously wealthy Manila-Acapulco Galleon in the Philippines, the Nuestra Senora de Covadonga. Throughout the Centurion's career as a royal naval warship in the eighteenth century, she played a role in the capture of Quebec during the French and Indian War and the invasion of Havana in the Seven Years War. She was also instrumental when dealing with the Barbary Corsairs of Algeria and Morocco. Amongst the famous men who sailed on this vessel were John Harrison, the inventor of the first maritime sea clock, and Joshua Reynolds, the celebrated portrait painter. The details of the journeys to the Americas, Asia, and Europe are described in this biographical-travelogue of the Centurion.

From the international bestselling author of KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON and THE LOST CITY OF Z, a mesmerising story of shipwreck, mutiny and murder, culminating in a court martial that reveals a shocking truth. On 28th January 1742, a ramshackle vessel of patched-together wood and cloth washed up on the coast of Brazil. Inside were thirty emaciated men, barely alive, and they had an extraordinary tale to tell. They were survivors of His Majesty’s ship the Wager, a British vessel that had left England in 1740 on a secret mission during an imperial war with Spain. While chasing a Spanish treasure-filled galleon, the Wager was wrecked on a desolate island off the coast of Patagonia. The crew, marooned for months and facing starvation, built the flimsy craft and sailed for more than a hundred days, traversing 2,500 miles of storm-wracked seas. They were greeted as heroes. Then, six months later, another, even more decrepit, craft landed on the coast of Chile. This boat contained just three castaways and they had a very different story to tell. The thirty sailors who landed in Brazil were not heroes – they were mutineers. The first group responded with counter-charges of their own, of a tyrannical and murderous captain and his henchmen. While stranded on the island the crew had fallen into anarchy, with warring factions fighting for dominion over the barren wilderness. As accusations of treachery and murder flew, the Admiralty convened a court martial to determine who was telling the truth. The stakes were life-and-death—for whomever the court found guilty could hang.

The South Seas, as this region used to be called, conjured up images of adventure, belles and savages, romance and fabulous fortunes, but the long voyages of discovery and exploration of the vast Pacific Ocean were really an exercise in amazing logistics, navigation, hard grit, shipwreck and pure luck. The motivations were scientific and geographic, but at the same time nationalistic and materialistic. A series on global exploration and discovery would not be complete without this book by Quanchi and Robson. It is ambitious and informative and includes the familiar names of Laperouse, Bougainville, Cook and Dampier, as well as the intriguing stories of the Bounty Mutiny, scurvy, and the mysterious Northwest Passage, Terra Australis Ignotia and Davis Land. There are entries on first contacts, ships, navigational instruments, mapping, and botany. The scene is carefully set in the introduction, the chronology spans several centuries, and the extensive bibliography offers a guide to further reading. There are more than just dry facts in this book. It has a whiff of salt air, the clash of empires, cross-cultural beach encounters and personal adventure.