Later interesting entries are:—
"Monday, 2nd July.—Fresh gales and Cloudy sent away the Treasure in 32 Waggons to London with 139 Officers and Seamen to guard it.
"Thursday, 19 July.—Mod and fair, found in the Fish Room three Chests of Treasure" (which had been overlooked).
The last entry of all is for:—
"Friday, 20 July.—Hard Gales with rain at 4 p.m. all the men on the spot were paid and the Pendant was Struck."
An old print represents an officer of the Centurion dropping booty into the apron of a lady friend. Behind him the waggons and their guard proceed, with a great display of flags. The passing of the treasure was acclaimed with much enthusiasm both upon the road and in London. It was no doubt the biggest prize ever brought to England by a single ship. Anson's share made him a rich man. The rest of the survivors profited according to their rank.
Anson's subsequent career may be told in a few words. He was created Lord Anson on June 13, 1747. From 1751 to 1756 and from 1757 till his death he was a very competent and energetic First Lord of the Admiralty. He became Admiral of the Fleet in 1761. He died on June 6, 1762. The figurehead of the Centurion, the lion which "was very loose" in the Cape Horn storms of 1741, was preserved at the family seat at Shugborough till it fell to pieces. A portrait of Anson, which has been frequently copied and engraved, still exists there. The face is that of a man placidly and agreeably contented. It is the face of the polite and even spirit who "always kept up his usual composure and steadiness," and only once allowed joy to "break through" "the equable and unvaried character which he had hitherto preserved." Something of that character is in this placid and agreeable story told by Mr. Walter, chaplain, from Anson's private records.
The book is one of the most popular of the English books of voyages. It is a pleasantly written work. The story is told with a grace and quietness "very grateful and refreshing." The story itself is remarkable. It bears witness to the often illustrated contrast between the excellence of Englishmen and the stupidity of their governors. The management of the squadron before it sailed gave continuous evidence of imbecility. Something fine in a couple of hundred "emaciated ship-mates" drove them on to triumph through every possible disadvantage. In the general joy over their triumph, the imbecility was forgotten. There is something pathetic in the mismanagement of the squadron. The ships were sent to sea on the longest and most dangerous of voyages with no anti-scorbutics. When scurvy broke out the only medicines available were "the pill and drop of Dr. Ward" (very violent emetic purgatives), which came not from the government, but from Anson's own stores. In the absence of proper medicines, Anson produced these things, "and first try'd them on himself." This spirit in our captains and in our common men has borne us (so far) fairly triumphantly out of the bogs into which our stupidity so often drives us.
JOHN MASEFIELD.
January 30, 1911.