Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 58.djvu/436

Wager In 1704 he published a second edition, with a dedication to the Duke of Marlborough, and a strong appeal to the government to make a settlement on the isthmus, whereby—among other advantages—'a free passage by land from the Atlantic to the South Sea might easily be effected, which would be of the greatest consequence to the East India trade.' The work was translated into Dutch upon its appearance, and into French by De Montirat in 1706. It was reprinted in the 'Collection of Voyages' of 1729. [Wafer's New Voyage; Dampier's New Voyage round the World.]

 WAGER, CHARLES (1666–1743), admiral, was grandson of John Wager (d. 1656) of St. Margaret's, Rochester, mariner; and son of Charles Wager (1630-1666), who, after serving as a captain in the navy of the Commonwealth, commanded the Yarmouth in the fleet that brought over Charles II at the Restoration, and in 1664-5 commanded the Crown in the Mediterranean with (Sir) Thomas Allin [q. v.] He did not, however, come home till near the end of 1665, when he called on Pepys, who noted (2 Nov. 1665): 'A brave fellow, this captain is, and I think very honest.' At a later date (27 March 1668) he again noted: 'Above all Englishmen that ever were in the Straits, there never was any man that behaved himself like poor Charles Wager, whom the very Moors do mention with tears, sometimes.' He married, in 1663, Prudence, daughter of William Goodsonn of Ratcliffe, gentleman, probably the parliamentary vice-admiral, William Goodson [q. v.], or a near kinsman; and had issue a daughter, Prudence, besides the son, born in 1666, presumably after his father's death. The widow married, secondly, Alexander Parker, merchant, and had issue two sons and four daughters, one of whom married the Rev. John Watson, and was the mother of Vice-Admiral Charles Watson [q. v.]

The first mention of the younger Charles which can now be found is in 1690, when he was second lieutenant of the Foresight, a small 50-gun ship, commanded by Basil Beaumont [q. v.], sent to the north in July to raise men for the fleet. In 1692 he was second lieutenant of the Britannia, flagship of Admiral Edward Russell (afterwards Earl of Orford) [q. v.], in the battle of Barfleur, and on 7 June was promoted by Russell to the command of a fireship. In the next year he commanded the Samuel and Henry, armed ship, in which he convoyed the merchant fleet to New England. In November 1695 he was appointed to the Mary; in December was moved to the Woolwich, and in April 1696 to the Greenwich, a 50-gun ship, which he commanded in the North Sea, the Channel, and on the coast of France, till the end of 1699, but without any opportunities of distinguished service. In June 1700 he was living with his family at Killingnorth, near Looe in Cornwall, 'about ten miles from his majesty's yard at Plymouth,' he wrote, and whence 'he could be at London in four or five days, if required.'

In the following February he was appointed to the Medway for service in the Channel, and on 13 Jan. 1701-2 to the Hampton Court of 70 guns, one of fifty-one ships commissioned the same day. In her, in 1703, he accompanied Sir Clowdisley Shovell [q. v.] to the Mediterranean, and in October was detached with Rear-admiral George Byng (afterwards Viscount Torrington) [q. v.] to negotiate a treaty with the dey of Algiers (Memoirs relating to the Lord Torrington, Camden Soc. pp. 112-13); after which, coming home with Byng in November, his ship sustained considerable damage and was nearly lost in the 'great storm' (ib. p. 117). In 1704, still in the Hampton Court, he again went out to the Mediterranean with Shovell, and was present at the reduction of Gibraltar, though having no actual part in the achievement. He was then detached with some other ships to Lisbon and England with convoy [cf. ], and was thus absent from the battle of Malaga. He was again in the Mediterranean with Shovell in 1705; was present at the capture of Barcelona, and on the homeward voyage was detached to Lisbon, returning to England early in 1706.

In January 1706-7 he was appointed to the Expedition of 70 guns, as commander-in-chief at Jamaica and commodore of the first class with a captain under him. He sailed from Plymouth in April with nine ships of war and a large fleet of merchantmen in companv. In December he had news that M. du Casse was again on his way to the West Indies with a powerful French squadron intended for an attack on Jamaica. Further intelligence, however, convinced Wager that the object of this squadron was to convoy the Spanish treasure ships from Havana, and led him to plan the intercepting of these on their way from Portobello. The Spaniards, having information of his being at sea, postponed their sailing, and it was not till 28 May 1708 that he at last met them off Cartagena. There were in all seventeen ships, twelve of which were large and more or less heavily armed. Three,