Chapter 10: Our New Town
Contains spoilersOverview
Captain Cheap reasserts authority on Wager Island, enforcing the Articles of War, centralizing weapons and stores, and orchestrating perilous salvage that yields food, tools, and clothing. The castaways build a makeshift village and briefly stabilize, even easing scurvy.
As local resources dwindle, hunger returns, discipline frays, the store is robbed, and Mitchell is suspected of murdering a partner, reigniting factional tension.
Summary
Facing dwindling trust and dire logistics, Captain David Cheap asserts control ashore by reading the Articles of War and threatening death for mutiny. He prioritizes salvaging the wreck, assigning John Bulkeley to lead with John Byron assisting. Teams risk the collapsing hull to recover barrels of flour, peas, meat, alcohol, candles, clothing, tools, nails, and clocks. Cheap centralizes arms and provisions in a guarded tent, empowering Hamilton, Elliot, and Harvey to enforce accountability.
Bulkeley chafes at Cheap’s restrictions on night work, but steady salvage and strict rationing create a fragile order. Cheap’s frugal distributions, occasional wine, and the unexpected benefit of wild celery easing scurvy stabilize morale. Overt rebelliousness subsides, with Boatswain King distancing from Mitchell’s fractious clique, while Cheap appears calmer and more deliberate.
Resourcefulness spreads: seaweed becomes food and “slaugh cakes.” With boats tied up at the wreck, men improvise rafts to hunt seabirds. Seaman Richard Phipps ventures out on a barrel-raft, is stranded on a rock overnight, is rescued, then returns in an oxhide canoe. Byron and friends build a flat raft, survey birds, and narrowly recover their craft during a squall.
Bulkeley and allies erect a large thatched longhouse with partitioned cabins, while others raise tents and huts. A rudimentary hospital appears; rainwater is collected; the ship’s bell marks routine. Social hierarchies persist—Cheap with his inner circle and steward Plastow, Byron with midshipmen, warrant officers together, marines apart. They name landmarks—Cheap’s Bay, Mount Misery—and call their home Wager Island.
Within weeks, shellfish and salvage dwindle, hunger resurges, and tempers fray. Mitchell’s gang grows menacing; Cozens drinks heavily. The store tent is broken into and flour stolen, threatening survival. Soon after, a seaman partnering with Mitchell is found dead on the wreck with marks on his neck; Byron suspects Mitchell strangled him, signaling a renewed slide toward violence.
Who Appears
- Captain David Cheap
Ill, but asserts command; enforces Articles of War, controls arms and stores, directs salvage, rations frugally.
- John Bulkeley
Gunner leading salvage; builds a large communal house; records events; resents Cheap’s restrictions; notes store theft.
- John Byron
Midshipman on wreck parties; crafts a raft, narrowly avoids disaster; observes village formation and rising tensions.
- Mitchell
Carpenter’s mate leading a fractious gang; menaces others; suspected of murdering a salvage partner.
- Richard Phipps
Seaman who invents rafts to hunt birds; stranded and rescued; builds an oxhide canoe and resumes foraging.
- Lieutenant Hamilton
Marine officer in Cheap’s inner circle; armed; helps secure and receive salvaged stores.
- Surgeon Elliot
Cheap’s ally; armed; tends the sick in the makeshift hospital.
- Purser Harvey
Inner circle; armed; oversees accounting and control of salvaged provisions.
- Midshipman Campbell
Records daily salvage; notes vital tools and nails; dines with Cheap on “slaugh cakes.”
- John Cummins
Carpenter who helps Bulkeley construct the large thatched house.
- Cozens
Byron’s fellow midshipman; grows unruly, drinking extra wine amid scarcity.
- Boatswain King
Previously beaten by Cheap; now keeps distance from Mitchell’s gang.
- Plastow
Captain Cheap’s steward; attends him in his separate shelter.
- John Jones
Seaman who tells stories by the fire and reflects on their survival.