John Bulkeley struggles to keep the leaking Speedwell on course through the Strait of Magellan, navigating by stars, dead reckoning, and Narborough’s account. The castaways pass Port Famine and brave the First Narrow at night before recognizing the Cape of Eleven Thousand Virgins and being swept into the Atlantic.

Facing Spanish-held coasts and no food, they head for Port Desire, find an islet of seals, and gorge after smoking the meat. Refeeding syndrome strikes: Purser Thomas Harvey and at least one other die. As rations run out again, heavy surf forces any landing party to swim. Boatswain King, carpenter Cummins, and others—among them John Duck and Midshipman Isaac Morris—reach shore; one marine drowns near the beach.

The shore party hunts and finds a branded horse, evidence of Spaniards. Some swimmers return with water, but a squall drives the Speedwell off, leaving eight men, including Duck and Morris, stranded. With the rudder damaged and the boat near foundering, Bulkeley and the officers sign a resolution to put to sea or perish, sending a barrel ashore with arms and a letter. The marooned men watch the Speedwell depart.

Starvation and thirst deepen. Lieutenant Baynes records men dying daily. On January 23, Master Thomas Clark dies; the next day his son follows. Two days later the octogenarian cook Thomas Maclean also dies. Bulkeley’s journal falters amid hallucinations, yet he persists.

On January 28, 1742, the Speedwell drifts into Rio Grande, Brazil. Townspeople are stunned by the skeletal survivors and wreck of a boat. The governor deems their arrival a miracle and provides care; carpenter’s mate William Oram soon dies in hospital. Of the 81 who left Wager Island in the Speedwell, 29 remain alive. Bulkeley calls it “the day of our deliverance,” and in reporting to British authorities he notes that Captain Cheap had stayed behind by choice.