Few voyagers have added so much to our knowledge of distant parts of the world, and the accuracy of his remarks has been acknowledged by all those who have visited the countries he describes.
His conduct must not be judged by the opinions of the present day, when even privateering is looked down upon and condemned by all right thinking men. Whatever his countrymen may have thought of him, foreign voyagers speak of him in the highest terms. Humboldt says that no navigator could be compared to him. Malte-Bran terms him the learned Dampier, and French and Dutch discoverers style him the incomparable, the eminent, the skilful, the exact Dampier.
Chapter Twenty Four.
Anson’s voyage to the South Sea—A.D. 1740.
War with Spain—Original plan of expedition abandoned—The Centurion and other ships ordered to form a squadron under Commodore Anson—Miserable equipment—Ships overladen—Drop down Channel—Cross Atlantic, and pass through the Straits of Le Maire—Bad weather comes on—Two of the ships nearly wrecked—Severn and Pearl lost sight of—Centurion in fearful danger—Scurvy breaks out, and numbers die—Anchors at Juan Fernandez—The sick landed—The Trial joins her—Goats found marked by Alexander Selkirk—The Gloucester comes off the island—Long time in getting in—The Anna Pink appears—The Centurion goes in chase of a stranger—Takes a prize—Crew and stores of the Anna Pink transferred to Centurion—The Trial takes a prize, and crew and stores being removed into the prize, she is destroyed—Females taken on board a prize courteously treated—Paita attacked and captured—The seamen dress up in the Spaniards’ clothes—Booty taken—The town burnt—Spaniards acknowledge Anson’s generous treatment of his female prisoners—The squadron lays in wait for the Manilla galleon—Negroes enter on board as seamen—Miss the galleon—Preparations for crossing the Pacific—Prizes turned adrift—The Gloucester abandoned—Her crew taken on board Centurion—Scurvy again breaks out—Fearful mortality—The Ladrones sighted—Centurion brings up off Tinian—Sick landed—She is driven out to sea—Great anxiety—A vessel commenced—The ship appears—Reaches Macao—Repaired—Fresh men shipped—Sails to watch for the galleon—Her capture—The Centurion on fire—Anson’s coolness—Sails with his prize for Canton—Roguery of the Chinese—Anson and his men extinguish a fire at Canton—Sails for England—Hears of the war with France—Narrow escape from a French fleet.
War with Spain having been declared towards the end of 1739, it was proposed to fit out two squadrons, one under the command of Captain Cornwall, to sail round the Cape of Good Hope and attack Manilla, and the other under Captain Anson, then commanding the Centurion, to sail into the Pacific, round Cape Horn, to injure the settlements of the Spaniards on the west coast of South America, and to destroy their trade. The two squadrons were afterwards to meet to carry out together whatever might be deemed advisable. The first part of the scheme was soon abandoned, and Commodore Anson’s squadron alone was ordered to proceed into the South Sea.
Captain Anson’s family was little known. He was not supposed to possess even brilliant talents, for “he was,” as Earl Stanhope writes of him, “dull in conversation and slow in business, but he had undaunted bravery, steady application, and cool judgment. He punctually followed his instructions and zealously discharged his duty, and by these qualities—qualities within the attainment of all—he rose to well-earned honours, and bequeathed an unsullied renown. He thus deserves to be held forth to British seamen as an example of what may be accomplished by industry, courage, and love of their profession.”
The squadron consisted of the Centurion, of sixty guns and four hundred men, on board of which the commodore flew his broad pennant; the Gloucester and Severn, each of fifty guns; the Pearl, of forty; the Wager, of twenty-eight; and the Trial sloop, of eight guns. There were also two victuallers to carry provisions, to be taken on board the squadron when there was room to receive them.