A voyage round the world in the years MDCCXL, I, II, III, IV

by Baron George Anson Anson

As the crew on board were now reinforced by the recovered hands returned from the island, we began to send our casks on shore to be fitted up, which till this time could not be done, for the coopers were not well enough to work. We likewise weighed our anchors, that we might examine our cables, which we suspected had by this time received considerable damage. And as the new moon was now approaching, when we apprehended violent gales, the commodore, for our greater security, ordered that part of the cables next to the anchors to be armed with the chains of the fire-grapnels; besides which, they were cackled twenty fathom from the anchors and seven fathom from the service with a good rounding of a 4-½-inch hauser; and being persuaded that the dangers of this road demanded our utmost foresight, we to all these precautions added that of lowering the main and fore-yard close down, that in case of blowing weather the wind might have less power upon the ship to make her ride a strain.

Thus effectually prepared, as we conceived, we waited till the new moon, which was the 18th of September, when riding safe that and the three succeeding days (though the weather proved very squally and uncertain), we flattered ourselves (for I was then on board) that the prudence of our measures had secured us from all accidents; but on the 22d, the wind blew from the eastward with such fury that we soon despaired of riding out the storm. In this conjuncture we should have been extremely glad that the commodore and the rest of our people on shore, which were the greatest part of our hands, had been on board us, since our only hopes of safety seemed to depend on our putting immediately to sea; but all communication with the shore was now absolutely cut off, for there was no possibility that a boat could live, so that we were necessitated to ride it out till our cables parted. Indeed we were not long expecting this dreadful event, for the small bower parted at five in the afternoon, and the ship swung off to the best bower; and as the night came on the violence of the wind still increased, tho' notwithstanding its inexpressible fury, the tide ran with so much rapidity as to prevail over it: for the tide which set to the northward at the beginning of the hurricane, turning suddenly to the southward about six in the evening, forced the ship before it, in despight of the storm which blew upon the beam. The sea now broke most surprizingly all round us, and a large tumbling swell threatened to poop us, by which the long-boat at this time, moored astern, was on a sudden canted so high that it broke the transon of the commodore's gallery, whose cabin was on the quarter-deck, and would doubtless have risen as high as the trafferel had it not been for the stroke, which stove the boat all to pieces; and yet the poor boat-keeper, though extremely bruised, was saved almost by miracle. About eight the tide slackened, but the wind not abating, the best bower cable, by which alone we rode, parted at eleven. Our sheet anchor, which was the only one we had left, was instantly cut from the bow; but before it could reach the bottom, we were driven from twenty-two into thirty-five fathom; and after we had veered away one whole cable and two-thirds of another, we could not find ground with sixty fathom of line. This was a plain indication that the anchor lay near the edge of the bank, and could not hold us long. In this pressing danger, Mr. Saumarez, our first lieutenant, who now commanded on board, ordered several guns to be fired and lights to be shown as a signal to the commodore of our distress; and in a short time after, it being then about one o'clock and the night excessively dark, a strong gust, attended with rain and lightning, drove us off the bank, and forced us out to sea, leaving behind us on the island Mr. Anson with many more of our officers and great part of our crew, amounting in the whole to a hundred and thirteen persons. Thus were we all, both at sea and on shore, reduced to the utmost despair by this catastrophe; those on shore conceiving they had no means left them ever to depart from the island, whilst we on board, being utterly unprepared to struggle with the fury of the seas and winds we were now exposed to, expected each moment to be our last.

CHAPTER III

TRANSACTIONS AT TINIAN AFTER THE DEPARTURE
OF THE "CENTURION"

The storm which drove the Centurion to sea blew with too much turbulence to permit either the commodore or any of the people on shore to hear the guns which she fired as signals of distress, and the frequent glare of the lightning had prevented the explosions from being observed: so that when at daybreak it was perceived from the shore that the ship was missing, there was the utmost consternation amongst them: for much the greatest part of them immediately concluded that she was lost, and intreated the commodore that the boat might be sent round the island to look after the wreck; and those who believed her safe had scarcely any expectation that she would ever be able to make the island again, since the wind continued to blow strong at east, and they well knew how poorly she was manned and provided for struggling with so tempestuous a gale. In either of these views their situation was indeed most deplorable: for if the Centurion was lost, or should be incapable of returning, there appeared no possibility of their ever getting off the island, as they were at least six hundred leagues from Macao, which was their nearest port, and they were masters of no other vessel than the small Spanish bark of about fifteen tun seized at their first arrival, which would not even hold a fourth part of their number. And the chance of their being taken off the island by the casual arrival of any other ship was altogether desperate, as perhaps no European ship had ever anchored here before, and it were madness to expect that like incidents should send another here in an hundred ages to come: so that their desponding thoughts could only suggest to them the melancholy prospect of spending the remainder of their days on this island, and bidding adieu for ever to their country, their friends, their families, and all their domestic endearments.

Nor was this the worst they had to fear: for they had reason to apprehend that the Governor of Guam, when he should be informed of their circumstances, might send a force sufficient to overpower them, and to remove them to that island; and then the most favourable treatment they could expect would be to be detained prisoners during life; since from the known policy and cruelty of the Spaniards in their distant settlements, it was rather to be supposed that the governor, if he once had them in his power, would make their want of commissions (all of them being on board the Centurion) a pretext for treating them as pirates, and for depriving them of their lives with infamy.

In the midst of these gloomy reflections, Mr. Anson, though he always kept up his usual composure and steadiness, had doubtless his share of disquietude. However, having soon projected a scheme for extricating himself and his men from their present anxious situation, he first communicated it to some of the most intelligent persons about him; and having satisfied himself that it was practicable, he then endeavoured to animate his people to a speedy and vigorous prosecution of it. With this view he represented to them how little foundation there was for their apprehensions of the Centurion's being lost: that he should have presumed they had been all of them better acquainted with sea affairs than to give way to the impression of so chimerical a fright: that he doubted not but if they would seriously consider what such a ship was capable of enduring, they would confess there was not the least probability of her having perished: that he was not without hopes that she might return in a few days; but if she did not, the worst that could be imagined was, that she was driven so far to the leeward of the island that she could not regain it, and that she would consequently be obliged to bear away for Macao on the coast of China: that as it was necessary to be prepared against all events, he had, in this case, considered of a method of carrying them off the island, and of joining their old ship the Centurion again at Macao: that this method was to hale the Spanish bark on shore, to saw her asunder, and to lengthen her twelve feet, which would enlarge her to near forty tun burthen, and would enable her to carry them all to China: that he had consulted the carpenters, and they had agreed that this proposal was very feasible, and that nothing was wanting to execute it but the united resolution and industry of the whole body: and having added that for his own part he would share the fatigue and labour with them, and would expect no more from any man than what he, the commodore himself, was ready to submit to, he concluded with representing to them the importance of saving time, urging that, in order to be the better secured at all events, it was expedient to set about the work immediately, and to take it for granted that the Centurion would not be able to put back (which was indeed the commodore's secret opinion), since if she did return, they should only throw away a few days' application; but if she did not, their situation and the season of the year required their utmost dispatch.