Chapter 26: The Version That Won
Contains spoilersOverview
Three abandoned Speedwell castaways, including Isaac Morris, finally reach England and recount survival, Spanish captivity, and a daring slave revolt led by the indigenous chief Orellana aboard Don José Pizarro’s ship—tragically crushed. Morris’s friend John Duck is enslaved and lost to history.
In England, Admiral Anson orchestrates Richard Walter’s ghostwritten bestseller that sympathizes with Cheap and reframes the Wager as a mere obstacle, cementing an empire-serving narrative that eclipses messier accounts.
Summary
Three months after the court-martial, midshipman Isaac Morris and two other long-missing Speedwell castaways arrive in Portsmouth. They had been left on a Patagonian beach when the Speedwell sailed on, which Morris calls “the greatest act of cruelty.” After months of starvation, four companions died; Patagonian hosts eventually aided the survivors with food, shelter, and clothing.
Reaching Buenos Aires after years, the men were taken prisoner by Spaniards and sent to Spain aboard Don José Pizarro’s 66‑gun warship with eleven enslaved indigenous men, including the chief Orellana. On the third night at sea, Orellana’s men, armed only with knives and slings, seized the quarterdeck, scattering the crew. Pizarro and officers barricaded themselves, stealthily hauled powder through a porthole, and then fired from the cabin, killing Orellana.
With their leader dead and no means to command the ship, Orellana’s remaining men leapt overboard rather than return to bondage. Back in England, Morris published his narrative. The chapter underscores imperial complicity and silence: John Duck, a free Black seaman from the abandoned party, was kidnapped near Buenos Aires and sold into slavery; his fate vanished from the record.
Meanwhile, rival tellings of Anson’s voyage proliferated. After Pascoe Thomas’s early account, Richard Walter’s 1748 A Voyage Round the World appeared—largely ghostwritten by Benjamin Robins and orchestrated by George Anson. It cast Cheap as beleaguered, argued authority ended with the wreck, minimized the Wager disaster, and celebrated British supremacy. The lavish, widely read book fixed the empire-affirming version that eclipsed grimmer truths.
Who Appears
- Isaac Morris
Midshipman abandoned from the Speedwell; survives with indigenous help, endures Spanish captivity, witnesses Orellana’s revolt, and later publishes his narrative.
- Orellana
Indigenous chief enslaved aboard Pizarro’s warship; leads a knife-and-sling mutiny, is shot dead, and his men leap to avoid re-enslavement.
- Don José Pizarro
Spanish commander transporting prisoners and enslaved men; barricades with officers and suppresses Orellana’s uprising by lethal force.
- John Duck
Free Black seaman from the abandoned party; reaches Buenos Aires but is kidnapped and sold into slavery; fate unknown.
- George Anson
Expedition leader; engineers the official narrative, shaping Walter’s book to elevate his reputation and imperial glory.
- Richard Walter
Centurion’s chaplain credited as author of Anson’s Voyage; front for a narrative crafted to Anson’s perspective.
- Benjamin Robins
Pamphleteer-mathematician who ghostwrites much of Walter’s book, imbuing it with drama and Anson’s preferred framing.
- Pascoe Thomas
Centurion schoolmaster; publishes an earlier account and criticizes Walter for attempting to monopolize the voyage’s story.