Admiral John BYRON. The Narrative of Byron … Patagonia. [The loss of the Wager]. 1768. 2nd edition

Second edition of a 'thrilling account' by ‘Foul-weather Jack’.

[PATAGONIA & S. AMERICA.] – Vice-Admiral the Hon. John BYRON (1723-1786, nicknamed ‘Foul-weather Jack’). The Narrative of … Byron (Commodore of Late Expedition round the World) Containing an Account of the Great Distresses Suffered by Himself and His Companions on the Coast of Patagonia, From the year 1740, till their arrival in England, 1746. With a description of St. Jago de Chili [sic], and the manners and customs of the inhabitants. Also a relation of the loss of the Wager man of war. London: Printed for S. Baker and G. Leigh, ... and T. Davies,1768. Octavo (7 7/8 x 5in; 200 x 127mm). Pp. [i-iv; i-]ii-viii; [1-]2- 257[-258]. Half-title. Engraved frontispiece. (Some light spotting and old dampstaining). Contemporary sheep (worn: extremities rubbed, joints split, spine chipped at head and foot). Provenance: Bibliotheca Malfer, Rovereto (ink stamp to free free endpaper)

Second edition of "Admiral Byron's narrative of the loss of the Wager … one of the most thrilling accounts in the language" (Sabin).“ The first edition was published earlier in the same year.

In 1740, [Byron]…  accompanied George Anson on his voyage around the world as a midshipman aboard one of the several ships in the squadron. On 14 May 1741, HMS Wager under Captain Cheap (as Captain Dandy Kidd had died), was shipwrecked on the coast of Chile on what is now called Wager Island and Byron was one of the survivors. The survivors decided to split in two teams, one to make its way by boat to Rio de Janeiro on the Atlantic coast; the other, including John Byron and the Captain, to sail north along the Spanish colonial coast.

Captain Cheap at Wager Island had a party of 19 men … This included the surgeon Elliot and Lieutenant Hamilton who had been cast adrift with him plus midshipmen John Byron and Campbell who had been in the barge. They rowed up the coast but were punished by continuous rain, headwinds and waves that threatened the boats. One night while the men slept on shore, one of the boats was capsized while at anchor and was swept out to sea with its two boatkeepers. One of the men got ashore but the other drowned. As it was now impossible for them all to fit in the remaining boat, four marines were left ashore with muskets to fend for themselves. The winds prevented them from getting around the headland so they returned to pick up the marines only to find them gone. They returned to Wager Island in early February 1742. With one death on the journey, there were now 13 in the group.

Martín Olleta, a Chono chieftain, guided the men up the coast to the Spanish settlements of Chiloé Island so they set out again. Two men died; after burying the bodies, the six seamen rowed off in the boat never to be seen again while Cheap, Hamilton, Byron, Campbell and the dying Elliot were on shore looking for food. Olleta then agreed to take the remaining four on by canoe for their only remaining possession, a musket. It is likely the party travelled across Presidente Ríos Lake in inland Taitao Peninsula, a lake Chile regarded as officially discovered in 1945. …[They were captured by the Spanish].  The Spaniards treated them well and they were eventually taken to the inland capital of Santiago where they were released on parole. The Spaniards heard that Anson had been generous in the treatment of the prisoners he had taken and this kindness was returned.

Byron and the other three men stayed in Santiago till late 1744 and were offered passage on a French ship bound for Spain. Three accepted the passage. Campbell elected to take a mule across the Andes and joined the Spanish Admiral Pizarro in Montevideo on the Asia only to find Isaac Morris and the two seamen who had been abandoned in Freshwater Bay on the Atlantic coast. After time in prison in Spain, Campbell reached Britain in May 1746, followed by the other three two months later.

In England, the official court martial examined only the loss of the Wager in which Baynes, in nominal charge at the time, was acquitted of blame but reprimanded for omissions of duty. Disputes over what happened after the wreck were instead played out as Bulkeley and Cummins, Campbell, Morris, the cooper Young and later Byron published their own accounts, the last of which was the only one that in any way defended Cheap who had since died. Twenty-nine crew members plus seven marines made it back to England.” (wikipedia).
Cf. Sabin 9730; cf. Hill 232.