Chapter 3: The Gunner
Contains spoilersOverview
Amid relentless battle drills, the chapter centers on gunner John Bulkeley—his discipline, faith, and private journal—while typhus devastates Anson’s squadron. After a grim stop at St. Catherine and the Industry’s release (and capture), the Pearl narrowly escapes a Spanish ruse but loses Captain Kidd. Command reshuffles follow: Murray to the Pearl, Cheap to the Wager, and Kidd’s dying prophecy darkens the voyage’s outlook.
Summary
A night drill readies the Wager for combat, detailing the gun crews’ choreography and the peril aboard a man-of-war. John Bulkeley, the gunner, stands out for skill and leadership. His background, devout faith, and private logbooks frame him as a capable yet socially constrained professional central to the ship’s efficiency.
Soon after, a distant sail proves a harmless Dutch vessel, but an invisible enemy strikes: typhus spreads through the squadron. Surgeons, including Henry Ettrick, improvise amid ignorance of germs; Anson orders new air ports cut, yet deaths mount. Funerals at sea become routine as the bell tolls and bodies, weighted with shot, are committed to the deep.
Anson releases the unseaworthy Industry and transfers stores; officers rush letters home, unaware the ship will be taken by the Spanish. The fleet reaches St. Catherine off Brazil, where camps, hunting, and repairs offer respite, but sickness persists and many die. After refit and fumigation, the squadron departs on January 18, 1741.
A squall snaps a mast on the Trial, flinging topmen overboard and killing one. The Pearl goes missing, then reappears weeks later with a grave report: the Spanish armada under Pizarro had mimicked Anson’s pendant to lure her, but the Pearl escaped after jettisoning stores and threading deceptive waters.
Captain Dandy Kidd of the Pearl dies of fever, praising his crew and settling his will. Anson reshuffles commands again—Murray moves to the Pearl and David Cheap is appointed to the Wager—raising questions about leadership style. Bulkeley records Kidd’s ominous prophecy that the expedition will end in “poverty, vermin, famine, death and destruction.”
Who Appears
- John Bulkeley
Wager’s gunner; disciplined, devout, skilled leader and diarist; oversees munitions, battle readiness, and records the voyage’s trials.
- George Anson
Commodore; orders constant drills and ventilation cuts, releases Industry, refits at St. Catherine, and reshuffles commands after Kidd’s death.
- David Cheap
Promoted to command the Wager after Murray moves; his impending leadership raises concern among the crew.
- George Murray
Initially captain of the Wager; promoted to command the Pearl following Captain Kidd’s death.
- John Byron
Midshipman on the Wager; participates in drills, attends sea burials, and helps hunt ashore at St. Catherine.
- Henry Ettrick
Wager’s surgeon; establishes a sick bay and treats typhus patients with limited medical understanding.
- Dandy Kidd
Captain of the Pearl; escapes a Spanish ruse, then dies of fever, leaving a will and dire prophecy.
- Don José Pizarro
Spanish commander; deploys a counterfeit pendant to lure the Pearl but fails to capture her.
- Pascoe Thomas
Centurion schoolmaster; comments on miasma fears and vermin, and notes conditions at St. Catherine.
- Lawrence Millechamp
Trial’s purser; records the squall that threw topmen overboard and the ravages of disease.
- Philip Saumarez
Lieutenant; observes island fauna and medicinal plants during the St. Catherine stop.
- Reverend Walter
Clergyman; reports the accumulating death toll and lingering weakness after the fever.